Voya Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Voya Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 14.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 40,284 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 6,771 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC's holdings in Celanese were worth $2,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CE. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake 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 valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 52.9% during 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 shares of Celanese by 43.2% during the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 200.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays lowered their target price on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Celanese from $60.00 to $46.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Mizuho set a $45.00 price target on Celanese in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.33.

Celanese Stock Up 10.0 %

CE stock traded up $4.47 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $49.24. 6,190,644 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,113,153. The firm's 50 day moving average is $48.47 and its 200 day moving average is $67.01. The firm has a market cap of $5.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $36.29 and a twelve month high of $169.50.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. Celanese's quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.24%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -0.86%.

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.