V Square Quantitative Management LLC Raises Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 53.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,660 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $331,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 27.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,286,230,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036,362 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 7.3% during the third 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 608.2% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $93,754,000 after purchasing an additional 592,196 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $68.04 on Monday. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $64.05 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $69.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $99.21. The company has a market capitalization of $7.44 billion, a PE ratio of 6.85, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.18%. Celanese’s payout ratio is presently 28.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CE. BMO Capital Markets lowered Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Celanese from $100.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Celanese from $98.00 to $77.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.06.

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.