AQR Capital Management LLC Increases Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 691.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 35,665 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,160 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $4,811,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the first quarter worth $31,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Key Financial Inc grew its stake in Celanese by 3,933.3% in the 2nd 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 purchased a new position in shares of Celanese during the first quarter worth approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Up 2.1 %

Celanese stock opened at $136.67 on Friday. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $110.76 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $129.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $143.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.52, a PEG ratio of 0.66 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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.17 EPS. Celanese’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 10.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on CE shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Piper Sandler downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $153.13.

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.