Comerica Bank Cuts Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Comerica Bank trimmed its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 21.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,651 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 10,030 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank's holdings in Celanese were worth $2,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Celanese by 514.8% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 114,475 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $7,900,000 after acquiring an additional 95,855 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,046,337 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $72,417,000 after purchasing an additional 126,058 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Celanese by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 66,298 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,588,000 after purchasing an additional 853 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Celanese during the 4th quarter valued at $91,000. Finally, Oxford Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in Celanese in the 4th quarter worth $625,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:CE traded down $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $51.25. 2,396,600 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,150,418. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $48.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.75. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $36.29 and a 1 year high of $161.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. Celanese's quarterly revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is presently -0.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CE. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Vertical Research raised shares of Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $66.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Mizuho set a $45.00 price target on shares of Celanese in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Celanese from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.89.

About Celanese

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.