Yousif Capital Management LLC Buys 20,144 Shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 166.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 32,273 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 20,144 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC's holdings in Celanese were worth $1,832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CE. Dodge & Cox raised its position in Celanese by 100.3% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $942,506,000 after purchasing an additional 6,818,993 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $222,815,000. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,550,334 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Celanese by 4,506.7% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,344,661 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $162,274,000 after acquiring an additional 2,293,764 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 105.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $274,714,000 after acquiring an additional 2,033,025 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. 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. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Celanese from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $63.11.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE:CE traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $54.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,527,061 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,260,207. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20. The stock has a market cap of $5.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.57, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.13. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $49.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.10. Celanese Corporation has a 12-month low of $36.29 and a 12-month high of $147.86.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 negative net margin of 16.54% and a positive return on equity of 11.28%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -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.