53,980 Shares in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Acquired by Employees Retirement System of Texas

Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 53,980 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $3,736,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Celanese by 103.7% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. State of Wyoming grew its position in shares of Celanese by 122.5% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group grew its position in shares of Celanese by 52.9% in the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC increased its stake 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Celanese from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $46.00 to $55.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $48.00 price objective (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a research note on Monday, April 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.94.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE traded up $0.63 on Thursday, reaching $54.56. 1,671,498 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,203,832. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $47.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.05. The stock has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a PE ratio of -3.92, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $36.29 and a 52-week high of $152.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The business's revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,479 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was acquired 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 of the company's stock, valued at $807,120.24. This represents a 10.57% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.