Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Grows Position in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 772.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 51,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 45,600 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System's holdings in Celanese were worth $2,924,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Celanese in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,118,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Celanese in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,168,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 14,437 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $999,000 after purchasing an additional 1,131 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 4,036 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 200.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on CE. Piper Sandler reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $48.00 price target (down from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Celanese from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Celanese from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Celanese from $76.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.50.

Celanese Trading Up 2.9%

CE traded up $1.67 on Thursday, hitting $58.59. The company had a trading volume of 1,724,032 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,316,184. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20. The firm has a market cap of $6.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.85, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.14. The company's fifty day moving average price is $55.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.46. Celanese Corporation has a 1 year low of $36.29 and a 1 year high of $147.32.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 16.54% and a positive return on equity of 11.28%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect 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 will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 29th. Celanese's payout ratio is currently -0.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 1,479 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president directly owned 15,468 shares in the company, valued at $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.