3,219,402 Shares in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Acquired by Norges Bank

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 3,219,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,815,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Celanese by 27.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,286,230,000 after buying an additional 2,036,362 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Celanese by 139.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 512,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,453,000 after purchasing an additional 298,596 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Celanese by 353.6% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 327,582 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,672,000 after purchasing an additional 255,367 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV purchased a new position in Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at about $14,566,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 7.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,145,000 after purchasing an additional 177,552 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CE shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $77.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors raised Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.94.

Celanese Stock Down 1.9 %

CE stock opened at $57.14 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.10, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $45.94 and a 1-year high of $172.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $61.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

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

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. 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.