Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) Shares Bought by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 772.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 51,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 45,600 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System's holdings in Celanese were worth $2,924,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. State of Wyoming boosted its position in Celanese by 122.5% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in Celanese by 127.0% in the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 622 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Celanese by 739.1% in the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American National Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Celanese Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $61.02 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.01, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.14. Celanese Corporation has a 12-month low of $36.29 and a 12-month high of $147.86. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $55.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Celanese had a negative net margin of 16.54% and a positive return on equity of 11.28%. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.08 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.20%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.79%.

Insider Activity

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the purchase, the senior vice president directly owned 15,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $807,120.24. This represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Celanese from $51.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Celanese from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $55.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Celanese from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on Celanese from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $65.33.

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.

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