Dodge & Cox Sells 66,749 Shares of Celanese Corporation $CE

Dodge & Cox trimmed its stake in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) by 0.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 15,324,667 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 66,749 shares during the quarter. Dodge & Cox owned 0.14% of Celanese worth $847,914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CE. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 73.2% in the 1st quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Celanese during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Celanese by 55.4% in the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 623 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in Celanese by 99.0% during the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 758 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the second quarter worth approximately $50,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Celanese news, Director Timothy Go bought 1,039 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $46.25 per share, for a total transaction of $48,053.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 4,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,193.75. The trade was a 30.78% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Celanese from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Celanese from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Celanese from $77.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Celanese from $47.00 to $43.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $67.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.78.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $39.88 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of -1.41 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $40.33 and a 200-day moving average of $47.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Celanese Corporation has a one year low of $35.13 and a one year high of $75.84.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.07. Celanese had a negative net margin of 31.85% and a positive return on equity of 9.87%. The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Celanese has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.850-1.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 28th were given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 28th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently -0.42%.

Celanese Company 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.