Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. Raises Holdings in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) by 660.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 52,269 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 45,392 shares during the quarter. Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $2,967,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 31.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,886 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $131,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $521,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter worth about $962,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter worth about $540,000. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Celanese by 51.5% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 14,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after buying an additional 5,057 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $56.02 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $50.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20. Celanese Corporation has a twelve month low of $36.29 and a twelve month high of $147.86. The stock has a market cap of $6.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.13.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 11.28% and a negative net margin of 16.54%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 1,479 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 15,468 shares in the company, valued at $807,120.24. The trade was a 10.57% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Celanese from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Celanese from $60.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.11.

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.