Moore Capital Management LP Buys 124,868 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Moore Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 186.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 191,806 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 124,868 shares during the period. Moore Capital Management LP’s holdings in Celanese were worth $13,275,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 103.7% in the fourth 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. CKW Financial Group grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 52.9% in the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Celanese by 739.1% during the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its holdings in Celanese by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $51.25 on Monday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $36.29 and a one year high of $161.94. The company’s 50-day moving average is $48.56 and its 200 day moving average is $64.75.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 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 $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -0.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CE shares. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Celanese from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.89.

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.