ING Groep NV Buys Shares of 210,461 Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

ING Groep NV bought a new stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 210,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,566,000. ING Groep NV owned about 0.19% of Celanese at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Celanese by 128.8% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. 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 acquiring an additional 194 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group grew its position 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 valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew 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 valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in shares of Celanese by 51.1% during 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 during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Down 4.4 %

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $52.51 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $68.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.17. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $51.51 and a 12-month high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.01%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -20.10%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $98.00 to $77.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.53.

Celanese Company 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.