Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc.

Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. cut its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 10.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,150 shares during the quarter. Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in Celanese by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $611,931,000 after buying an additional 136,994 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 155.5% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,049,000 after acquiring an additional 130,037 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management boosted its holdings in Celanese by 6.5% in the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 160,443 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,814,000 after purchasing an additional 9,782 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its stake in Celanese by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 233,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,744,000 after purchasing an additional 41,598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Celanese by 7.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 69,606 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE CE opened at $74.17 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $70.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.94. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $64.05 and a one year high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market cap of $8.11 billion, a PE ratio of 7.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.50 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America raised shares of Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $122.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Celanese from $100.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.82.

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.