By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE – Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,740,000 shares, a drop of 6.5% from the November 15th total of 5,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,940,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days. Currently, 4.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.
Celanese Stock Performance
Shares of CE traded down $0.44 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $68.14. The stock had a trading volume of 3,099,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,099,555. 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 12 month low of $67.03 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.45 billion, a PE ratio of 6.86, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.17. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $97.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $121.12.
Celanese (NYSE:CE – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The business’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.50 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 8.38 EPS for the current year.
Celanese Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.11%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.17%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group cut Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Celanese from $163.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Five investment 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 MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.56.
Read Our Latest Analysis on CE
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $611,931,000 after buying an additional 136,994 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Celanese by 155.5% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,049,000 after acquiring an additional 130,037 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management increased its stake in Celanese by 6.5% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 160,443 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,814,000 after acquiring an additional 9,782 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its stake in Celanese by 21.7% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 233,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,744,000 after acquiring an additional 41,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Celanese by 7.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $134,723,000 after acquiring an additional 69,606 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
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.
See Also
Receive News & Ratings for Celanese Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts’ ratings for Celanese and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.