Copperwynd Financial LLC Grows Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Copperwynd Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,745 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the period. Copperwynd Financial LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $670,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CE. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Celanese by 109.2% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,047 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,133,000 after buying an additional 12,553 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Celanese by 14.7% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 122,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,011,000 after purchasing an additional 15,643 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 447.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,072 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,781 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 41.4% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 128,423 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,071,000 after purchasing an additional 37,577 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 264.2% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 19,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,342,000 after purchasing an additional 14,103 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Celanese

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CE shares. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Celanese from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $153.13.

Celanese Price Performance

Celanese stock opened at $139.29 on Friday. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $110.76 and a 52-week high of $172.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $129.53 and its 200 day moving average is $144.22. The company has a market cap of $15.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.67, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.30.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 10.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

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.