Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) Shares Purchased by Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc.

Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. lifted its stake in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 660.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,269 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 45,392 shares during the quarter. Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc.'s holdings in Celanese were worth $2,967,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 31.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,886 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $131,000 after buying an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Celanese by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,213 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $521,000 after buying an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter worth about $962,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 4th quarter worth about $540,000. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 51.5% during the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 14,877 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,030,000 after acquiring an additional 5,057 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on CE shares. Vertical Research raised Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $66.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays upped their target price on Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Celanese from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $48.00 price objective (down from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a report on Monday, April 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE stock traded up $0.97 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $56.58. The company had a trading volume of 1,410,494 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,261,458. Celanese Corporation has a 12-month low of $36.29 and a 12-month high of $147.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.94. The company has a market capitalization of $6.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.72, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $51.11 and a 200-day moving average of $57.53.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 11.28% and a negative net margin of 16.54%. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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 Monday, May 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Celanese's payout ratio is currently -0.79%.

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.