Celanese Corporation $CE Shares Sold by Baird Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Celanese Corporation by 75.4%, leaving it with 5,465 shares valued at approximately $310,000.
• Celanese reported a quarterly EPS of $1.44, beating estimates, with a revenue of $2.53 billion, despite a 4.5% decline year-over-year.
• Analyst ratings for Celanese show a consensus of "Hold" with an average target price of $57.22, indicating cautious sentiment among equity researchers.

Baird Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 75.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,465 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 16,779 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Celanese were worth $310,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CE. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 597,557 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $41,357,000 after acquiring an additional 48,115 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. raised its position in Celanese by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 9,858 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $682,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in Celanese by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,197 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Celanese by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,024 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $971,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,474,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other news, Director Timothy Go purchased 1,039 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was bought at an average price of $46.25 per share, for a total transaction of $48,053.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 4,415 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,193.75. The trade was a 30.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Celanese Trading Down 1.7%

CE stock traded down $0.77 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $44.83. 1,315,493 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,739,258. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.91 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.03, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.16. Celanese Corporation has a 12-month low of $36.29 and a 12-month high of $142.54.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.06. Celanese had a negative net margin of 16.30% and a positive return on equity of 10.48%. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.38 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Celanese has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.100-1.400 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 29th were paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Celanese's payout ratio is currently -0.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CE shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $55.00 to $47.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $47.00 to $43.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $65.00 to $59.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $57.22.

About Celanese

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.