Teza Capital Management LLC Purchases New Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 6,844 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $474,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised 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 in the last quarter. State of Wyoming lifted its stake in Celanese by 122.5% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group lifted its stake in Celanese by 52.9% during the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Celanese by 739.1% in the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celanese Stock Performance

CE stock opened at $52.43 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.64. The company has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.76, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.29 and a fifty-two week high of $157.74.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. Celanese’s revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.23%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -0.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CE. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $60.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup cut their price target on Celanese from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.44.

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.