Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC Purchases New Stake in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Key Points

• Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC has acquired 15,150 shares of Celanese Corporation, valued at approximately $860,000, marking it as the firm's 28th largest holding.
• Several hedge funds significantly increased their stakes in Celanese, with Dodge & Cox raising its stake by 100.3%, now owning over $942 million worth of the stock.
• Celanese reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.57 for the latest quarter, beating analysts' expectations, but experienced an 8.5% year-over-year decrease in revenue.

Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 15,150 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $860,000. Celanese comprises approximately 0.0% of Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC's holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CE. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. State of Wyoming grew its position in shares of Celanese by 122.5% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 127.0% in the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 622 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 739.1% in the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the period. Finally, American National Bank & Trust bought a new position in Celanese during the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,479 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,468 shares of the company's stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Celanese from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Celanese from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Celanese from $51.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.50.

Celanese Stock Performance

Celanese stock traded down $0.69 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $47.96. The company had a trading volume of 1,757,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,736,467. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $56.04 and a 200 day moving average of $54.54. 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 $5.25 billion, a PE ratio of -3.15, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.10. Celanese Corporation has a one year low of $36.29 and a one year high of $142.54.

Celanese Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Celanese's payout ratio is -0.79%.

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.