Bryce Point Capital LLC Buys New Stake in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Key Points

• Bryce Point Capital LLC made a new investment in Celanese Corporation, purchasing 13,292 shares valued at approximately $769,000 in the first quarter.
• Celanese recently reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.57, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter.
• Analysts have varied opinions on Celanese, with Barclays raising the price target to $62.00, and the overall consensus rating being "Hold" with a target of $66.50.

Bryce Point Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 13,292 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $769,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CE. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the first quarter worth about $292,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 1st quarter worth approximately $907,000. Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 127.0% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 622 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 55.1% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 33,508 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,902,000 after acquiring an additional 11,905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 91.8% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 126,660 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $8,766,000 after acquiring an additional 60,621 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,479 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president owned 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE traded down $1.77 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $52.37. 1,334,609 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,791,915. The business's 50-day moving average price is $56.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Celanese Corporation has a twelve month low of $36.29 and a twelve month high of $144.59. The company has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.44, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.14.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 29th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is presently -0.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CE. BMO Capital Markets raised Celanese from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $63.00 price target (up from $53.00) on shares of Celanese in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Barclays lifted their target price on Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Celanese from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $48.00 target price (down from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.50.

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.