Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Position Reduced by Capital Research Global Investors

Capital Research Global Investors trimmed its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 70.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,546,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 11,091,326 shares during the quarter. Capital Research Global Investors owned approximately 4.16% of Celanese worth $314,653,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dodge & Cox grew its position in Celanese by 100.3% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $942,506,000 after purchasing an additional 6,818,993 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 105.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $274,714,000 after buying an additional 2,033,025 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at $222,815,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Celanese by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,679,670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $184,998,000 after acquiring an additional 73,498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Celanese by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,688,619 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $116,869,000 after acquiring an additional 82,860 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Trading Up 6.7 %

Shares of CE opened at $40.03 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $52.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $36.29 and a 12-month high of $169.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. As a group, research analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on CE shares. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $48.00 target price (down from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.33.

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.