Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Short Interest Update

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) saw a significant decrease in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,740,000 shares, a decrease of 6.5% from the November 15th total of 5,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,940,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Approximately 4.4% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets cut Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler cut Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Celanese from $163.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.56.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Celanese by 128.8% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in Celanese in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Key Financial Inc increased its position in Celanese by 3,933.3% in the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 124.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 401 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $68.23. 1,280,411 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,100,050. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $97.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $121.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Celanese has a twelve month low of $67.03 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The company has a market capitalization of $7.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.86, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.17%.

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.