Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Stock Holdings Lessened by Ameriprise Financial Inc.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. reduced its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 49.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,658 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 50,486 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc.'s holdings in Celanese were worth $3,577,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CE. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased 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 purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group increased its stake in Celanese by 52.9% during the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its stake 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 last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CE traded down $1.65 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $52.86. 1,742,869 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,219,072. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $36.29 and a 52 week high of $152.50. 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's fifty day simple moving average is $47.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.63. The company has a market cap of $5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -0.79%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,479 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 15,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at $807,120.24. This represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho set a $45.00 target price on shares of Celanese in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Celanese from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.94.

Celanese Company 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.