Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Has $71.87 Million Stake in Celanese Corporation $CE

Key Points

• Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) by 32.7%, holding approximately $71.87 million worth of shares at the end of the first quarter.
• Several hedge funds, including Turtle Creek Asset Management and Fuller & Thaler Asset Management, made significant increases in their holdings of Celanese, with increases of 266.7% and 4,506.7% respectively in the fourth quarter.
• The company reported earnings of $1.44 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations, despite a 4.5% decline in revenue compared to the previous year.

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 32.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,265,895 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 312,093 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned approximately 1.16% of Celanese worth $71,865,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Celanese by 266.7% during the fourth quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $242,681,000 after acquiring an additional 2,550,334 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Celanese by 4,506.7% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,344,661 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $162,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,293,764 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 9,132.0% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,801,349 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $102,263,000 after purchasing an additional 1,781,837 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Celanese by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,599,615 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $110,704,000 after buying an additional 275,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 891.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,521,564 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $105,308,000 after buying an additional 1,368,104 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,479 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the purchase, the senior vice president directly owned 15,468 shares in the company, valued at $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Cfra Research raised shares of Celanese to a "moderate sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $63.00 to $45.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Celanese from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $55.00 to $47.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $59.94.

Celanese Price Performance

CE stock traded up $2.0530 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $45.1630. 2,547,790 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,834,320. Celanese Corporation has a 52 week low of $36.29 and a 52 week high of $142.54. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $54.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.94 billion, a PE ratio of -3.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.81%.

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.