Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE – Free Report) by 11.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 128,201 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,503 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $17,430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in 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 worth $1,286,230,000 after buying an additional 2,036,362 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 592,196 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in Celanese by 528.9% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 260,523 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,142,000 after purchasing an additional 219,095 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 worth $353,145,000 after purchasing an additional 177,552 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 14.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,663,000 after buying an additional 150,201 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Celanese Price Performance
Shares of NYSE CE opened at $69.15 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $117.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.56 billion, a PE ratio of 6.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.17. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $66.73 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37.
Celanese (NYSE:CE – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Celanese Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is 28.17%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CE shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Celanese from $122.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $110.50.
View Our Latest Research Report on CE
Celanese Profile
(Free Report)
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.
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