Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by Fiduciary Trust Co

Fiduciary Trust Co decreased its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 62.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,929 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 4,857 shares during the quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co's holdings in Celanese were worth $203,000 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 Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 103.7% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group increased its holdings in Celanese by 52.9% in the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its position in Celanese by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, Caption Management LLC bought a new position in Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Alembic Global Advisors raised Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.44.

Celanese Price Performance

CE traded up $1.35 on Friday, reaching $53.56. 1,513,305 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,165,290. The stock has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a PE ratio of -3.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $36.29 and a twelve month high of $158.60. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $48.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.54.

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

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -0.79%.

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.