Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Cuts Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC cut its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 3.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 17,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 569 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $2,933,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CE. Capital Research Global Investors lifted 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $2,031,776,000 after purchasing an additional 354,367 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position 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 valued at $1,761,567,000 after buying an additional 329,740 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Celanese by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,529,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,325,161,000 after buying an additional 1,302,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised 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 worth $953,653,000 after buying an additional 1,852,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE:CE opened at $132.88 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $109.38 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $149.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $152.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.30.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.17. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.00% and a net margin of 18.60%. The business had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.01 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 11.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Celanese from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Celanese from $147.00 to $144.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 10th. 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. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $159.41.

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.