Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 18,023 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,247,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CE. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 27.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,286,230,000 after buying an additional 2,036,362 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 608.2% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $93,754,000 after acquiring an additional 592,196 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Celanese by 139.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 512,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,453,000 after purchasing an additional 298,596 shares during the period. ING Groep NV purchased a new position in Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,566,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Celanese by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $353,145,000 after purchasing an additional 177,552 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $54.10 on Tuesday. 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 market capitalization of $5.92 billion, a PE ratio of -3.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $45.94 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $65.01 and a 200 day moving average price 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 the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Analysts expect 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 given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is -0.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised Celanese to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. 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 report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.31.

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.