Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Celanese Corporation $CE

Key Points

• Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Celanese Corporation by 169.9% during Q1, acquiring an additional 13,462 shares, bringing its total holdings to 21,387 shares valued at approximately $1.21 million.
• Celanese recently reported Q2 earnings of $1.44 per share, surpassing estimates, while revenues of $2.53 billion were slightly above expectations despite a year-over-year decline.
• Analysts have revised price targets for Celanese, with estimates ranging from $49.00 to $70.00, and the current consensus rating for the stock is "Hold" with an average target of $59.39.

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 169.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,387 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 13,462 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC's holdings in Celanese were worth $1,214,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Comerica Bank raised its stake in Celanese by 56.2% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 57,246 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,250,000 after purchasing an additional 20,595 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox increased its position in Celanese by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 15,391,416 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $873,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,773,354 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC increased its position in Celanese by 6,533.5% during the 1st quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 392,238 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $22,267,000 after purchasing an additional 386,325 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in Celanese by 59.4% during the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 9,879 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 3,680 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 134.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,566,226 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $202,455,000 after buying an additional 2,044,662 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CE shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $52.00 target price on shares of Celanese and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Zacks Research cut shares of Celanese from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Celanese in a research report on Monday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.39.

Celanese Stock Up 1.7%

NYSE:CE traded up $0.78 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $47.65. The company had a trading volume of 1,801,054 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,777,356. The firm has a market cap of $5.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.10. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $53.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. Celanese Corporation has a twelve month low of $36.29 and a twelve month high of $142.54.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 negative net margin of 16.30% and a positive return on equity of 10.48%. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.38 EPS. The business's revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Celanese has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.100-1.400 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 29th were given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a 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.