Xponance Inc. Has $1.27 Million Stock Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Xponance Inc. raised its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,375 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,137 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,272,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Freedom Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 3.2% in the third quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $715,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group boosted its holdings in Celanese by 52.9% in the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Celanese by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,476 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 103.7% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in shares of Celanese by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Celanese from $77.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Vertical Research raised shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Celanese to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.18.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $57.10 on Monday. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $45.94 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.24 billion, a PE ratio of -4.10, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $62.84 and its 200-day moving average is $86.25.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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. Equities research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors 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 (DPR) is presently -0.86%.

Celanese Company 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.