Capital International Investors Cuts Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Capital International Investors cut its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 34.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,368,934 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 3,798,952 shares during the period. Capital International Investors owned about 6.74% of Celanese worth $509,917,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dodge & Cox raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 100.3% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $942,506,000 after acquiring an additional 6,818,993 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Celanese during the 4th quarter worth $222,815,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Celanese by 105.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $274,714,000 after buying an additional 2,033,025 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Celanese by 1,453.1% during the 4th quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 953,802 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $66,013,000 after buying an additional 892,391 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 768.8% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 423,887 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $29,337,000 after buying an additional 375,095 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Up 5.4 %

Shares of NYSE:CE traded up $2.24 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $43.83. 669,302 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,999,670. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $36.29 and a 12 month high of $169.50. The company has a market cap of $4.79 billion, a PE ratio of -3.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $50.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.91.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on CE shares. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Celanese from $76.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Celanese from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $48.00 price target (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors raised Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus 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.