Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Short Interest Down 6.5% in November

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) saw a significant decrease in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,740,000 shares, a decrease of 6.5% from the November 15th total of 5,070,000 shares. Currently, 4.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,940,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 128.8% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in Celanese in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Key Financial Inc increased its stake in Celanese by 3,933.3% during the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 124.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 401 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

CE opened at $68.43 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.88, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.17. Celanese has a 1-year low of $67.03 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $97.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $121.12. 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 (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.50 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Celanese will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on CE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $165.00 to $115.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $116.56.

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.