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

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,700,000 shares, a growth of 33.6% from the February 13th total of 6,510,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,090,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Approximately 8.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CE. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Celanese by 0.4% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 243,137 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,057,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 5,050 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,244 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in Celanese by 6.7% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 3,534 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $480,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Celanese by 15.3% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 15,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Celanese by 50.8% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 20,510 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,789,000 after buying an additional 6,907 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. 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, Barclays dropped their price target on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.18.

Celanese Stock Performance

CE stock traded up $0.95 on Monday, reaching $58.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,717,705 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,587,911. Celanese has a 52 week low of $45.94 and a 52 week high of $172.16. 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 company has a market capitalization of $6.34 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $63.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.74.

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

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.21%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -0.86%.

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.