Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Grows Position in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its stake in shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 313.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,300 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 24,494 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd's holdings in Celanese were worth $1,834,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Celanese during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. State of Wyoming grew its holdings in shares of 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. increased its position in shares of Celanese by 127.0% in the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 622 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American National Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 1st quarter valued at $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the purchase, the senior vice president owned 15,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $807,120.24. This represents a 10.57% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CE shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Citigroup upped their target price on Celanese from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Celanese from $76.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $63.00 target price (up previously from $53.00) on shares of Celanese in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. 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 data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.50.

Celanese Stock Up 2.7%

CE stock traded up $1.56 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $58.66. The stock had a trading volume of 1,419,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,648,839. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $6.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day moving average of $56.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.01. Celanese Corporation has a 52-week low of $36.29 and a 52-week high of $144.59.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 29th. Celanese's payout ratio is -0.79%.

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.