Voloridge Investment Management LLC Buys New Shares in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 860,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,572,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.79% of Celanese as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Woodline Partners LP bought a new stake in Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at about $454,000. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in Celanese by 1,221.2% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 81,770 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,659,000 after acquiring an additional 75,581 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in Celanese by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 3,263 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at about $474,000. Finally, Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 2,550,334 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of CE stock opened at $53.70 on Wednesday. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $36.29 and a 1 year high of $156.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.59. The company has a market cap of $5.87 billion, a PE ratio of -3.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Celanese from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. StockNews.com raised Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. BMO Capital Markets raised Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $55.00 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays lifted 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.94.

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.