Celanese Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:CE)

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 11,714 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 317% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,810 put options.

Celanese Price Performance

NYSE:CE traded down $15.55 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $54.36. The stock had a trading volume of 4,740,921 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,245,160. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.94 billion, a PE ratio of 5.46, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.17. Celanese has a 52 week low of $54.05 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $69.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.72.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 8.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays cut their price objective on Celanese from $88.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on Celanese from $98.00 to $77.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 100.3% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $942,506,000 after acquiring an additional 6,818,993 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Celanese in the 4th quarter worth about $222,815,000. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Celanese by 266.7% in the fourth quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $242,681,000 after purchasing an additional 2,550,334 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 4,506.7% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,344,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $162,274,000 after buying an additional 2,293,764 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 27.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,286,230,000 after buying an additional 2,036,362 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.