Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Short Interest Update

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE – Get Rating) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,730,000 shares, an increase of 28.8% from the December 15th total of 2,120,000 shares. Currently, 2.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,080,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Celanese Stock Up 4.3 %

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $121.59 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.73, a quick ratio of 4.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The company has a market cap of $13.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.04 and a beta of 1.26. Celanese has a 12 month low of $86.71 and a 12 month high of $165.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $107.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.59.

Celanese (NYSE:CE – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 3rd. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.98 by ($0.04). Celanese had a return on equity of 42.26% and a net margin of 17.20%. The business had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Celanese will post 16.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CE. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in Celanese by 92.6% in the 1st quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its position in Celanese by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 11,676 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,194,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH raised its position in shares of Celanese by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 2,131 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $251,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 26.7% in the 2nd quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 456 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodward Diversified Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 92.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CE shares. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Celanese from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $98.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Celanese from $110.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 10th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Monday, November 7th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Celanese from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Celanese from $124.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.00.

About Celanese

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Celanese Corp. engages in the provision of technology and specialty materials businesses. It operates through the following segments: Engineered Materials, Acetate Tow, Acetyl Chain and Other Activities. The Engineered Materials segment includes the engineered materials business, food ingredients business and certain strategic affiliates.