Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Short Interest Update

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,190,000 shares, a growth of 5.9% from the August 31st total of 4,900,000 shares. Currently, 4.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 908,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.7 days.

Celanese Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE CE traded down $0.94 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $135.02. The stock had a trading volume of 689,643 shares, compared to its average volume of 783,973. Celanese has a 12 month low of $110.76 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $129.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.89. The company has a market capitalization of $14.75 billion, a PE ratio of 7.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.30.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.17 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese will post 10.42 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Celanese’s payout ratio is 15.41%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the first quarter worth $31,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Key Financial Inc grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% in the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in Celanese during the second quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $153.13.

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.