Creekmur Asset Management LLC Takes $511,000 Position in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Creekmur Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 9,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $511,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CE. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the first quarter worth $292,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the first quarter worth $907,000. Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 348 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 91.8% in the fourth 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 period. Finally, Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 55.1% in the first 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 period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of CE traded down $1.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $57.35. The company had a trading volume of 1,810,331 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,326,233. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $55.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.28. Celanese Corporation has a 52 week low of $36.29 and a 52 week high of $144.59. The company has a market capitalization of $6.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.14.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 11.28% and a negative net margin of 16.54%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.21%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on CE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Celanese from $76.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $63.00 price target (up previously from $53.00) on shares of Celanese in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.50.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction of $77,174.22. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.