Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Short Interest Up 8.4% in December

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Vertical Research downgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group lowered Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $110.50.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $69.21 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $7.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.96, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.17. 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 fifty-two week low of $66.73 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $81.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $114.79.

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

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued 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 yield of 4.05%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.17%.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 128.8% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in Celanese by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 1,663 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 5.2% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,265 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $308,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in shares of Celanese by 7.0% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 0.7% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,954,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

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.