Is Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) a buy?
At the moment, there are tons of metrics investors can use to track Mr. Market. Some of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a healthy amount (see just how much).
Just as crucial, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the world of equities. Obviously, there are many motivations for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).
Furthermore, it’s important to discuss the newest info surrounding Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE).
Hedge fund activity in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)
At Q2’s end, a total of 21 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.
As Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) has witnessed a fall in interest from upper-tier hedge fund managers, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of funds who sold off their full holdings heading into Q2. Interestingly, Malcolm Fairbairn’s Ascend Capital said goodbye to the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, totaling an estimated $18.9 million in stock. Matthew Knauer and Mina Faltas’s fund, Nokota Management, also said goodbye to its stock, about $4.9 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
What have insiders been doing with Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)?
Insider buying made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time frame, Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also examine the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE). These stocks are Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN), Braskem SA (ADR) (NYSE:BAK), Valhi, Inc. (NYSE:VHI), Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH), and FMC Corp (NYSE:FMC). This group of stocks are the members of the chemicals – major diversified industry and their market caps resemble CE’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) | 40 | 0 | 0 |
| Braskem SA (ADR) (NYSE:BAK) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Valhi, Inc. (NYSE:VHI) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) | 28 | 0 | 0 |
| FMC Corp (NYSE:FMC) | 23 | 0 | 0 |
Using the returns shown by our analyses, regular investors must always keep one eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) is an important part of this process.
