Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Makes New Investment in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,319 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $179,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Celanese by 33.3% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,826 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 125.0% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Celanese by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 73,996 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,981,000 after acquiring an additional 2,862 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Celanese in the 2nd quarter worth $208,000. Finally, Access Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Celanese by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Access Financial Services Inc. now owns 9,840 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $67.94 on Thursday. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $67.03 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $96.05 and a 200-day moving average of $120.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.12%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler lowered Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $150.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group lowered shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.39.

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.