Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 15.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,465 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Celanese by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 30,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,087,000 after buying an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Natixis increased its position in shares of Celanese by 1,026.6% during the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 55,542 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,844,000 after acquiring an additional 50,612 shares during the last quarter. Norinchukin Bank The raised its position in shares of Celanese by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Norinchukin Bank The now owns 5,158 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its holdings in Celanese by 316.6% in the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 14,869 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after acquiring an additional 11,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Celanese by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,599,615 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $110,704,000 after acquiring an additional 275,488 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CE shares. Mizuho set a $45.00 price target on shares of Celanese in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Celanese from $76.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $48.00 target price (down from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.33.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $41.48 on Wednesday. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $36.29 and a 1 year high of $169.50. The firm has a market cap of $4.53 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.98, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $51.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently -0.86%.

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.