Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys 22,396 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 15.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 169,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,396 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.15% of Celanese worth $11,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CE. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Celanese by 103.7% during 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 in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group boosted 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 buying an additional 185 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew 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 worth $46,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Celanese by 200.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $56.76 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.64. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $45.94 and a 12-month high of $172.10. The firm has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a PE ratio of -4.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on CE. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup raised shares of Celanese to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $73.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on 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 dropped their price target 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. 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 data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.94.

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.