PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Sells 325,081 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 69.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 140,792 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 325,081 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. owned about 0.13% of Celanese worth $9,744,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. 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 purchasing an additional 136,994 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 155.5% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,049,000 after purchasing an additional 130,037 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 6.5% during 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 7.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $134,723,000 after purchasing an additional 69,606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $521,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Trading Up 0.7 %

CE opened at $54.59 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $64.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $90.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a PE ratio of -3.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $45.94 and a twelve month high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is -0.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Celanese to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.31.

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.