Fifth Third Bancorp Reduces Stock Holdings in Celanese Corporation $CE

Key Points

• Fifth Third Bancorp slashed its stake in Celanese Corporation by 81.7% in the 2nd quarter, leaving it with only 1,843 shares valued at approximately $102,000.
• Celanese reported $1.44 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analysts’ expectations, but its revenue was down 4.5% year-over-year.
• The company has an average analyst rating of "Hold" with a consensus price target of $57.06 after several firms adjusted their price objectives downward.

Fifth Third Bancorp reduced its stake in shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 81.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,843 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 8,217 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Celanese were worth $102,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 73.2% during the 1st quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 440 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 127.0% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 622 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 67.2% during the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 911 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 366 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 240.7% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,298 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 917 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE:CE opened at $42.33 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Celanese Corporation has a 12-month low of $36.29 and a 12-month high of $137.38. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.64 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.14.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.38 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Celanese has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.100-1.400 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Celanese from $47.00 to $43.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Celanese from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Celanese from $55.00 to $47.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Celanese from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Celanese from $63.00 to $45.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $57.06.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other Celanese news, Director Timothy Go purchased 1,039 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director owned 4,415 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,193.75. The trade was a 30.78% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.

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