Empowered Funds LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 50.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,510 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 6,907 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $2,789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Celanese by 128.8% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Celanese in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Key Financial Inc boosted 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 purchasing an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Down 1.1 %

CE stock opened at $72.19 on Wednesday. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $71.45 and a 52-week high of $172.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $7.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.26, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $119.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $132.41.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.50 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is presently 28.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on CE shares. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $163.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler lowered Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $150.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group cut Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.59.

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.