Marshall Wace LLP Makes New Investment in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 332,446 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $23,009,000. Marshall Wace LLP owned 0.30% of Celanese as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 281,709 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $38,300,000 after acquiring an additional 34,658 shares in the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its holdings in Celanese by 29.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 17,397 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,365,000 after buying an additional 3,906 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the third quarter worth about $179,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of Celanese during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,302,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 128,201 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $17,430,000 after purchasing an additional 13,503 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CE shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Celanese from $55.00 to $40.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $48.00 price objective (down from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Barclays cut their target price on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Celanese presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $61.33.

Celanese Stock Performance

Celanese stock traded up $2.04 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $43.63. 2,176,717 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,005,350. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $36.29 and a 12-month high of $169.50. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $50.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.91. The stock has a market cap of $4.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -0.86%.

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.