Westpac Banking Corp Trims Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 2nd, 2023

Westpac Banking Corp lowered its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE – Get Rating) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,911 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 454 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in Celanese by 92.6% during the first quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 72.5% during the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 357 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Celanese in the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. Romano Brothers AND Company bought a new position in Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Celanese by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 543 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CE. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Celanese from $115.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 27th. Bank of America started coverage on Celanese in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $140.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho raised their target price on Celanese from $107.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $105.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $152.00 to $146.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.54.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,200 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was bought at an average price of $117.15 per share, with a total value of $140,580.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 10,589 shares in the company, valued at $1,240,501.35. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $104.63 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.63. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $108.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.20. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $86.71 and a 1 year high of $161.37. The firm has a market cap of $11.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.02, a PEG ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 1.30.

Celanese (NYSE:CE – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by ($0.12). Celanese had a net margin of 19.58% and a return on equity of 32.15%. The company had revenue of $2.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.91 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 11.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 28th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.12%.

About Celanese

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Celanese Corp. engages in the provision of technology and specialty materials businesses. It operates through the following segments: Engineered Materials, Acetate Tow, Acetyl Chain and Other Activities. The Engineered Materials segment includes the engineered materials business, food ingredients business and certain strategic affiliates.