CKW Financial Group Raises Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

CKW Financial Group grew its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 52.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the quarter. CKW Financial Group’s holdings in Celanese were worth $37,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Celanese by 27.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,286,230,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036,362 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 3.1% during the third 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 7.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,145,000 after buying an additional 177,552 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $134,723,000 after acquiring an additional 69,606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Celanese by 608.2% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,754,000 after acquiring an additional 592,196 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

CE opened at $74.17 on Monday. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $64.05 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $8.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 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. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.74.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on CE shares. KeyCorp downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Vertical Research cut Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.82.

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.