Celanese (NYSE:CE) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $70.76 and last traded at $70.82, with a volume of 323979 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $72.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. KeyCorp lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.59.

Celanese Trading Down 1.7 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $109.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $126.38. The stock has a market cap of $7.79 billion, a PE ratio of 7.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during 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 business’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. Celanese’s payout ratio is 28.17%.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 2.7% in the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 3,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its holdings in Celanese by 13.4% during the second quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 839 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 20.4% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 585 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its stake in Celanese by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 27,552 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,716,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Celanese by 128.8% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

About Celanese

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.