Short Interest in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Grows By 33.6%

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,700,000 shares, an increase 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 days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days. Approximately 8.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CE has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $77.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.18.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 0.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank grew its stake in Celanese by 32.7% during 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 increased its holdings in Celanese by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 3,534 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Celanese by 15.3% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 50.8% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 20,510 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,789,000 after buying an additional 6,907 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celanese Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Celanese stock traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $58.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 695,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,594,974. The stock has a market cap of $6.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. Celanese has a twelve month low of $45.94 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $63.63 and a 200-day moving average of $88.74.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Research analysts forecast that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

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

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.