Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC Sells 1,500 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC cut its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 78.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the quarter. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $29,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Celanese by 128.8% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in 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 during the period. CKW Financial Group boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its stake in Celanese by 43.2% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in Celanese by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CE shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup upgraded Celanese to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Celanese from $88.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.00.

Celanese Stock Performance

CE stock opened at $52.75 on Friday. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $96.95. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $51.24 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The firm has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.79, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 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 $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.23%. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

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.