Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $156.66 Million Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 150,201 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.06% of Celanese worth $156,663,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Celanese during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Celanese during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Key Financial Inc raised its holdings in Celanese by 3,933.3% during the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the first quarter worth about $49,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Celanese from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $153.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Celanese Price Performance

Celanese stock opened at $126.90 on Friday. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $110.76 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $130.51 and its 200-day moving average is $144.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The company has a market capitalization of $13.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.98, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.30.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.17 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 10.44 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

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.