Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Raises Holdings in Celanese Corporation $CE

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. significantly boosted its stake in Celanese Corporation, acquiring an additional 2,044,662 shares, increasing its ownership by 134.4% during the first quarter.
• Celanese reported a positive earnings per share of $1.44 for Q2, surpassing analyst expectations, though its quarterly revenue fell by 4.5% year-over-year.
• Institutional investors own 98.87% of Celanese's stock, with multiple hedge funds, including Turtle Creek and Federated Hermes, increasing their stakes dramatically in recent quarters.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 134.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,566,226 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,044,662 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 3.26% of Celanese worth $202,455,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 266.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Celanese by 9,132.0% during the 1st 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. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Celanese in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,572,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Celanese by 35.0% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,164,150 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $179,629,000 after buying an additional 819,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 1st quarter valued at $28,389,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Celanese Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Celanese stock traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $47.33. 556,887 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,783,692. 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 of $53.13 and a 200-day moving average of $52.29. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.10.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 positive return on equity of 10.48% and a negative net margin of 16.30%.The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.38 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Celanese has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.100-1.400 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 dividend yield of 0.3%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -0.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Celanese from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $63.00 to $45.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Celanese from $67.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen raised Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $65.00 to $59.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. 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. According to MarketBeat, Celanese has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.39.

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.