Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Short Interest Down 5.2% in May

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,750,000 shares, a decrease of 5.2% from the May 15th total of 5,010,000 shares. Approximately 4.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 665,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. downgraded shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $140.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Barclays downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $147.00 to $144.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 10th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Celanese from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $161.41.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 310,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,196,000 after acquiring an additional 35,898 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its position in Celanese by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 155,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,168,000 after acquiring an additional 36,701 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank acquired a new position in Celanese in the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,879,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Celanese by 37.8% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 25,165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,910,000 after acquiring an additional 6,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Whale Capital LLP grew its position in Celanese by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Whale Capital LLP now owns 66,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,254,000 after acquiring an additional 22,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $139.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.67, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.34. Celanese has a 12 month low of $105.15 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $153.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.67 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.60% and a return on equity of 14.00%. The business’s revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.01 EPS. Analysts expect that Celanese will post 11.39 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

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.