Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) Shares Acquired by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 722.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 102,568 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 90,101 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue owned 0.09% of Celanese worth $5,822,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dodge & Cox increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 100.3% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $942,506,000 after acquiring an additional 6,818,993 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 2,033,025 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 266.7% in the fourth quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $242,681,000 after purchasing an additional 2,550,334 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $222,815,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 73,498 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,479 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Celanese Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE CE opened at $54.40 on Friday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $49.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.94. Celanese Corporation has a twelve month low of $36.29 and a twelve month high of $147.86. The stock has a market cap of $5.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.57, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.13.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 11.28% and a negative net margin of 16.54%. Celanese's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is currently -0.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on CE. Robert W. Baird cut 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. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Celanese from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $60.00 to $46.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.11.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CE? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.