one8zero8 LLC Acquires 13,355 Shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Key Points

• one8zero8 LLC increased its stake in Celanese Corporation by 131.9% in the first quarter, acquiring an additional 13,355 shares, bringing their total ownership to 23,480 shares valued at $1,333,000.
• Institutional investors own 98.87% of Celanese, with several hedge funds significantly boosting their stakes during the last quarter, including Dodge & Cox and Invesco Ltd..
• Celanese reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.57 for the latest quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, despite a year-over-year revenue decline of 8.5%.

one8zero8 LLC grew its stake in shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 131.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,480 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 13,355 shares during the period. one8zero8 LLC's holdings in Celanese were worth $1,333,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dodge & Cox lifted its stake in Celanese by 100.3% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $942,506,000 after purchasing an additional 6,818,993 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 105.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $274,714,000 after buying an additional 2,033,025 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese by 266.7% during the fourth quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $242,681,000 after buying an additional 2,550,334 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Celanese during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $222,815,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Celanese by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,679,670 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $184,998,000 after acquiring an additional 73,498 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 1,479 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 15,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at $807,120.24. This represents a 10.57% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Celanese Stock Up 2.7%

CE stock opened at $58.66 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $56.48 and a 200 day moving average of $56.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.42 billion, a PE ratio of -3.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20. 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 released its 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. Celanese had a negative net margin of 16.54% and a positive return on equity of 11.28%. The company 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 EPS. Celanese's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is presently -0.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Celanese from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. Piper Sandler reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $48.00 price target (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $66.50.

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.

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