Markel Group Inc. Grows Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Markel Group Inc. grew its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 81,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 3,500 shares during the quarter. Markel Group Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Celanese worth $5,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Celanese by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $611,931,000 after acquiring an additional 136,994 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Celanese by 155.5% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,049,000 after acquiring an additional 130,037 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management raised its position in shares of Celanese by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 160,443 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,814,000 after acquiring an additional 9,782 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $134,723,000 after acquiring an additional 69,606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $521,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CE has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America decreased their target price on Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Vertical Research raised Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.31.

Celanese Stock Down 2.2 %

Celanese stock opened at $54.10 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.88, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $45.94 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.42.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -0.86%.

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.