CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Has $2.87 Million Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co decreased its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 31.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,463 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 19,413 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co's holdings in Celanese were worth $2,868,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group boosted its holdings in Celanese by 52.9% in the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 43.2% in the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 200.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE traded up $0.85 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $45.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,535,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,056,972. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $48.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.26, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.29 and a fifty-two week high of $169.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is currently -0.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on CE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Vertical Research raised 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. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Celanese from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.33.

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.