Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,140,000 shares, an increase of 8.4% from the November 30th total of 4,740,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,200,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days. Currently, 4.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Celanese Stock Up 1.5 %

CE traded up $0.99 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $69.21. 1,192,977 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,155,467. Celanese has a one year low of $66.73 and a one year high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $81.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $114.79. The company has a market cap of $7.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.38 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently 28.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CE. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. KeyCorp downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Celanese by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 128,201 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,430,000 after buying an additional 13,503 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the third quarter worth $1,302,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the third quarter worth $179,000. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co grew its position in shares of Celanese by 29.0% in the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 17,397 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,365,000 after purchasing an additional 3,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 36.3% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 47,678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,482,000 after purchasing an additional 12,701 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.