Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Grows Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 512.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 118,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 98,860 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $16,064,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CE. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in Celanese during the second quarter worth $28,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Key Financial Inc grew its position in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% in the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese in the second quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese in the second quarter valued at $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Celanese from $167.00 to $163.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Piper Sandler downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Celanese Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $129.80 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $130.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $140.08. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $110.76 and a 52-week high of $172.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.14, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.17 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 10.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s 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.