Public Sector Pension Investment Board Purchases 211,921 Shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Celanese Corporation by 157.3%, acquiring an additional 211,921 shares, bringing its total holdings to approximately $19.68 million.
• Multiple hedge funds, including Dodge & Cox and Fuller & Thaler Asset Management, have also significantly increased their investments in Celanese during the previous quarters, indicating strong institutional interest.
• Celanese recently posted an EPS of $1.44 for its latest quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations, while also declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.03 per share.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 157.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 346,617 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 211,921 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned about 0.32% of Celanese worth $19,677,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 3,526.8% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 19,512 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,350,000 after buying an additional 18,974 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter worth about $7,168,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter worth about $637,000. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 102.4% during the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 6,461 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $447,000 after buying an additional 3,269 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 352,412 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $24,391,000 after buying an additional 70,703 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on CE shares. Bank of America dropped their target price on Celanese from $65.00 to $59.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their target price on Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $45.00 target price on Celanese and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $52.00 target price on Celanese and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Celanese from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. One equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.94.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 1,479 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were 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 directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CE traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $42.54. 1,772,997 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,658,702. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 2.05. Celanese Corporation has a 52 week low of $36.29 and a 52 week high of $142.54. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $54.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.76.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 10.48% and a negative net margin of 16.30%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 29th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is currently -0.81%.

Celanese Company 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.