Truist Financial Corp Trims Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Truist Financial Corp lowered its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 71.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,931 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 7,221 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Celanese were worth $203,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Celanese by 27.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,286,230,000 after buying an additional 2,036,362 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Celanese by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $611,931,000 after buying an additional 136,994 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Celanese by 7.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $353,145,000 after buying an additional 177,552 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Celanese by 7.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $134,723,000 after buying an additional 69,606 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Celanese by 608.2% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,754,000 after purchasing an additional 592,196 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $55.25 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.17. The company’s 50 day moving average is $65.56 and its 200 day moving average is $92.73. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $45.94 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. Research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. Celanese’s payout ratio is presently -0.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.31.

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.