Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Increases Position in Celanese Corporation $CE

Key Points

• Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC has increased its stake in Celanese Corporation by 134.9%, owning 103,432 shares valued at approximately $5.87 million.
• Recent upgrades and downgrades from analysts include JPMorgan Chase lowering the price target from $47.00 to $40.00, while Deutsche Bank set a new price target of $52.00 with a "buy" rating.
• Celanese reported $1.44 earnings per share for the latest quarter, surpassing analyst expectations and reflecting a 4.5% decrease in revenue year-over-year.

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 134.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 103,432 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 59,404 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC owned 0.09% of Celanese worth $5,872,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter worth $7,168,000. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in Celanese by 102.4% in the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 6,461 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $447,000 after purchasing an additional 3,269 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in Celanese by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 352,412 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $24,391,000 after purchasing an additional 70,703 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at about $409,000. Finally, United Capital Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,167 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $52.00 price target on shares of Celanese and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Celanese from $65.00 to $59.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Mizuho upped their target price on Celanese from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $55.00 to $47.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $59.94.

Celanese Stock Up 8.9%

NYSE:CE traded up $3.9670 on Friday, hitting $48.6470. The stock had a trading volume of 945,044 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,812,342. The company has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a PE ratio of -3.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.10. Celanese Corporation has a 52 week low of $36.29 and a 52 week high of $142.54. The business's fifty day moving average is $53.87 and its 200 day moving average is $53.04. 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 (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 16.30% and a positive return on equity of 10.48%. The firm's revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.38 EPS. Celanese has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.100-1.400 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 29th were issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 29th. Celanese's payout ratio is -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.