Waldron Private Wealth LLC Acquires 5,013 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Waldron Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 96.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,013 shares during the quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $705,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 42.0% in the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 18,756 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,276,000 after acquiring an additional 5,550 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 112.3% in the 4th quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 3,390 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,793 shares during the last quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $768,000. Forsta AP Fonden boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 76.5% in the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 38,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,651,000 after purchasing an additional 16,600 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in Celanese by 55.0% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 3,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 1,248 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $70.99 on Friday. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $64.05 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $104.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.76 billion, a PE ratio of 7.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its 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). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.50 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. 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 research note on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.