Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Acquires 1,368,104 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 891.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,521,564 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,368,104 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 1.39% of Celanese worth $105,308,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 100.3% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $942,506,000 after purchasing an additional 6,818,993 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Celanese by 105.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $274,714,000 after buying an additional 2,033,025 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter worth $222,815,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,679,670 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $184,998,000 after buying an additional 73,498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,688,619 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $116,869,000 after acquiring an additional 82,860 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celanese Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of CE stock traded up $0.43 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $45.83. 2,097,240 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,079,492. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.12. The firm has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.29 and a fifty-two week high of $169.50.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. Equities analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $48.00 price objective (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a report on Monday, April 7th. Mizuho set a $45.00 target price on shares of Celanese in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Vertical Research raised shares of Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $66.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $61.33.

Celanese Profile

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.