Swiss National Bank Sells 15,500 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Swiss National Bank lessened its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 308,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 15,500 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned 0.28% of Celanese worth $21,358,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Celanese by 27.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,286,230,000 after acquiring an additional 2,036,362 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 608.2% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $93,754,000 after purchasing an additional 592,196 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in Celanese by 139.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 512,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,453,000 after purchasing an additional 298,596 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,566,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Celanese by 7.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $353,145,000 after buying an additional 177,552 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $58.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $6.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $45.94 and a one year high of $172.16. The company’s 50-day moving average is $63.63 and its 200 day moving average is $88.74.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is -0.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CE has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Vertical Research upgraded shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.18.

Celanese Profile

Celanese Corporation, a chemical and specialty materials company, manufactures and sells high performance engineered polymers in the United States and internationally. It operates through Engineered Materials and Acetyl Chain. The Engineered Materials segment develops, produces, and supplies specialty polymers for automotive and medical applications, as well as for use in industrial products and consumer electronics.