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

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) saw a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,220,000 shares, a decrease of 15.9% from the March 15th total of 8,590,000 shares. Currently, 6.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 3,600,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on CE. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Mizuho set a $45.00 price target on Celanese in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $76.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Celanese from $55.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.33.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE CE traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $39.69. 212,095 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,981,330. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $52.06 and a 200 day moving average of $74.02. The company has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. Celanese has a 12-month low of $36.29 and a 12-month high of $169.50.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in Celanese by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $521,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares during the period. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Celanese by 157.8% in the 4th quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,124 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $701,000 after buying an additional 6,197 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank grew its holdings in Celanese by 116.0% in the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 15,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,066,000 after buying an additional 8,269 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the 4th quarter valued at about $555,000. Finally, New England Research & Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter worth approximately $768,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.