Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Short Interest Update

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,530,000 shares, a decline of 6.2% from the June 15th total of 4,830,000 shares. Approximately 4.2% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 713,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.3 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CE shares. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $147.00 to $144.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $160.00 price objective (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Celanese in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Celanese from $161.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $159.65.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 54.6% in the 2nd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,538 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in Celanese by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 5,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $758,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new position in Celanese in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Celanese by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC raised its stake in Celanese by 17.9% in the 2nd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,821 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CE traded down $1.65 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $145.86. 727,652 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 721,003. The company has a market cap of $15.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.03, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese has a 1 year low of $110.76 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $144.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $151.20. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.01 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Celanese will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

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.