81,750 Shares in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) Bought by QSM Asset Management Ltd

QSM Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 81,750 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $4,615,000. Celanese comprises approximately 3.5% of QSM Asset Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. QSM Asset Management Ltd owned about 0.07% of Celanese as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in Celanese by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,197 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Celanese by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,167 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in Celanese by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 3,263 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV raised its stake in Celanese by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 13,442 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $924,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Celanese by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,024 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $971,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on CE. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Celanese from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Celanese from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $60.00 to $46.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $63.11.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE traded up $0.32 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $56.87. The stock had a trading volume of 3,103,057 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,273,139. Celanese Corporation has a 12 month low of $36.29 and a 12 month high of $147.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.22 billion, a PE ratio of -3.74, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.13. 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 company's 50-day moving average is $51.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.25.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 11.28% and a negative net margin of 16.54%. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.08 EPS. Celanese's revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Celanese's payout ratio is -0.79%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.