Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Purchased by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 20.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,599,615 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 275,488 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 1.46% of Celanese worth $110,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Celanese by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,213 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $521,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares during the period. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 157.8% during the 4th quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,124 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $701,000 after purchasing an additional 6,197 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 116.0% during the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 15,400 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,066,000 after purchasing an additional 8,269 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in shares of Celanese in the 4th quarter valued at about $555,000. Finally, New England Research & Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Celanese during the fourth quarter worth about $768,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Celanese from $55.00 to $40.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Vertical Research upgraded Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $66.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $76.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.33.

Celanese Trading Up 3.3 %

Celanese stock traded up $1.49 during trading on Friday, hitting $46.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 695,548 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,061,390. The stock's fifty day moving average is $48.80 and its 200 day moving average is $69.18. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $36.29 and a 1-year high of $169.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last announced 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 business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.26%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio 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.