Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Has $66.01 Million Stock Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 1,453.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 953,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 892,391 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned 0.87% of Celanese worth $66,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 103.7% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group increased its holdings in Celanese by 52.9% in the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Celanese by 200.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its holdings in Celanese by 51.1% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Down 1.9 %

Celanese stock opened at $57.14 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $61.62 and a 200 day moving average of $84.34. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $45.94 and a one year high of $172.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a PE ratio of -4.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.21%. Celanese’s payout ratio is presently -0.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on CE. UBS Group reduced their target price on Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Vertical Research raised shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Celanese currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.94.

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.