Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Short Interest Update

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE – Get Rating) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,280,000 shares, a growth of 5.6% from the February 13th total of 2,160,000 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 998,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $117.15 per share, for a total transaction of $140,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,240,501.35. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 112,161 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,133,000 after acquiring an additional 3,832 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 131.2% in the 3rd quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC now owns 30,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,737,000 after acquiring an additional 17,191 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 88.1% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 164,443 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $19,340,000 after acquiring an additional 77,034 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,136,000. Finally, Pictet Asset Management SA grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 29.6% in the 2nd quarter. Pictet Asset Management SA now owns 72,626 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,542,000 after acquiring an additional 16,603 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.54% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

CE opened at $103.00 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $118.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $106.84. Celanese has a 1 year low of $86.71 and a 1 year high of $161.37. The company has a market capitalization of $11.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.93, a P/E/G ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Celanese (NYSE:CE – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.56 by ($0.12). Celanese had a net margin of 19.58% and a return on equity of 32.15%. The firm had revenue of $2.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.91 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Celanese will post 11.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 21st were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 17th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is 16.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Celanese from $111.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Celanese from $139.00 to $131.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. Credit Suisse Group increased their price target on Celanese from $83.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Mizuho increased their price target on Celanese from $107.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Celanese from $124.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $127.38.

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.