Amundi Decreases Position in Celanese Corporation $CE

Key Points

• Amundi cut its Celanese stake by 94.7% in the first quarter, selling 127,417 shares and retaining 7,164 shares worth approximately $471,000. Despite the reduction, institutional investors collectively own 98.87% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains a “Moderate Buy”, with 10 Buy, seven Hold and one Sell rating, and an average price target of $63.88. Recent targets ranged from $54 to $68.
• Celanese reported quarterly EPS of $2.45, ahead of the $2.23 consensus, on revenue of $2.75 billion, up 8.7% year over year. Shares opened at $44.86, while the company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.03 per share.

Amundi decreased its position in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 94.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 7,164 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 127,417 shares during the period. Amundi's holdings in Celanese were worth $471,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Celanese by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,840,341 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $500,610,000 after purchasing an additional 90,428 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Celanese by 24.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,565,556 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $235,312,000 after acquiring an additional 1,076,645 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Celanese by 21.0% during the 3rd quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,115,365 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $215,255,000 after purchasing an additional 887,600 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Celanese by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,094,781 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $173,127,000 after purchasing an additional 558,391 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Celanese by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,949,230 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $166,973,000 after purchasing an additional 80,242 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CE. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $57.00 to $54.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Celanese from $53.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Celanese from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Celanese from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Celanese from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $63.88.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $44.86 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.90. Celanese Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $35.13 and a fifty-two week high of $70.70. The company has a market capitalization of $4.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.45.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $2.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 13.04% and a negative net margin of 12.04%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. Celanese has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.350-1.750 EPS. Analysts expect that Celanese Corporation will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 28th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 28th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1.12%.

Celanese Profile

Celanese Corporation is a global chemical and specialty materials company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of products serving diverse industries. The company operates through two primary business segments—Engineered Materials and Acetyl Chain—offering solutions that range from high-performance polymers and specialty additives to industrial chemicals and intermediates. Its engineered materials are used in applications such as automotive components, consumer electronics, medical devices and packaging, while its acetyl derivatives find uses in coatings, adhesives, solvents and personal care products.

In the Engineered Materials segment, Celanese produces a variety of high-performance thermoplastics, polyether-block-amide (PEBA) elastomers and functional additives designed to enhance product durability, thermal resistance and sustainability.

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