Celanese (NYSE:CE) Sets New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) shares hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $54.25 and last traded at $55.54, with a volume of 2201966 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.91.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CE has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group cut Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Celanese from $88.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.00.

Celanese Stock Down 21.9 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a PE ratio of 5.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $69.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $98.72.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.11 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Celanese’s payout ratio is 28.17%.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dodge & Cox grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 100.3% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $942,506,000 after buying an additional 6,818,993 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Celanese by 27.4% in 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 3.1% during the third 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 period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 105.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $274,714,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 266.7% in the fourth quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $242,681,000 after purchasing an additional 2,550,334 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Celanese

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.