AlphaQuest LLC Has $41,000 Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

AlphaQuest LLC reduced its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 79.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 587 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,202 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $41,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of 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 grew its stake in shares of 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 grew its stake in shares of 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. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the third quarter valued at approximately $102,000. Finally, Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the third quarter valued at approximately $103,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $56.75 on Friday. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $45.94 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.30. The firm has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.07, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.21%. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on CE. StockNews.com cut shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.18.

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.