Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Purchased by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,037,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 46,856 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.95% of Celanese worth $71,823,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Celanese by 27.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,036,362 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Celanese by 3.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 136,994 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Celanese by 7.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 177,552 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position 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 valued at $93,754,000 after purchasing an additional 592,196 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in Celanese by 139.8% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 512,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,453,000 after purchasing an additional 298,596 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:CE opened at $54.59 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The business’s 50 day moving average is $64.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $90.89. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $45.94 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a PE ratio of -3.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. On average, analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on CE. Bank of America cut their price objective on Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Celanese from $77.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.31.

Celanese Company 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.