Jacobi Capital Management LLC Trims Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Jacobi Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 13.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 470 shares during the period. Jacobi Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,118,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in Celanese by 51.5% during the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 14,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,030,000 after buying an additional 5,057 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $540,000. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund acquired a new position in Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $962,000. Finally, Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new position in Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,238,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CE has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America lowered their price target 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.31.

Celanese Stock Down 7.7 %

CE stock opened at $47.01 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $66.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.15. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $46.99 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $5.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently -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.