Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC Invests $291,000 in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 4,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CKW Financial Group raised its position in Celanese by 52.9% in 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 period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Celanese by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,476 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Celanese by 103.7% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted 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 worth $46,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Celanese by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,239 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada cut Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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, Bank of America lowered their target price on Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.61.

Celanese Trading Down 13.5 %

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $40.83 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of -2.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50 day moving average is $59.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $82.15. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $39.62 and a 52 week high of $169.50. 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 (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. Equities analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -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.