Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Bought by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 514.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 114,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 95,855 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $7,900,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in Celanese by 100.3% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $942,506,000 after purchasing an additional 6,818,993 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 105.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $274,714,000 after buying an additional 2,033,025 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Celanese in the 4th quarter valued at about $222,815,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 73,498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Celanese by 4,506.7% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,344,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $162,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,293,764 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE CE opened at $49.24 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $36.29 and a 1-year high of $169.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.88.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.20. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently -0.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $76.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.33.

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.