Celanese (NYSE:CE) Hits New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $64.36 and last traded at $64.88, with a volume of 2651798 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.30.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Celanese from $122.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group downgraded Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.33.

Celanese Stock Up 0.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.54, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $74.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $111.94.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.50 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.31%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.17%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CE. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 2,036,362 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Celanese by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $611,931,000 after purchasing an additional 136,994 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Celanese by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,145,000 after purchasing an additional 177,552 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Celanese by 14.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,663,000 after purchasing an additional 150,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 7.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $134,723,000 after buying an additional 69,606 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

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.