Capital International Inc. CA Boosts Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Capital International Inc. CA lifted its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 12.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 107,794 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,851 shares during the quarter. Capital International Inc. CA owned approximately 0.10% of Celanese worth $18,525,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Celanese by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,809,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,300,907,000 after acquiring an additional 468,003 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,077,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,031,776,000 after purchasing an additional 354,367 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,337,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,761,567,000 after purchasing an additional 329,740 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,529,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,325,161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,302,758 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its position in Celanese by 43.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,137,688 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $953,653,000 after buying an additional 1,852,099 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on CE. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Celanese from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Celanese from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Celanese from $147.00 to $144.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $160.00 target price (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Celanese in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $162.75.

Celanese Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE CE traded up $2.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $139.08. 718,219 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 720,751. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $142.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $150.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.19 billion, a PE ratio of 7.59, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $110.76 and a 1-year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.00% and a net margin of 18.60%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.01 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 11.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

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.