Celanese (NYSE:CE) Hits New 52-Week Low – What’s Next?

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) reached a new 52-week low on Monday . The company traded as low as $84.51 and last traded at $84.51, with a volume of 8872 shares. The stock had previously closed at $84.80.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CE shares. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $151.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $121.35.

Celanese Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $124.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.31.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The business’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.50 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is 28.17%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at $9,033,840.54. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. National Pension Service raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 21.7% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 233,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,744,000 after purchasing an additional 41,598 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Celanese by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 122,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,011,000 after buying an additional 15,643 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its stake in Celanese by 447.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,072 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after buying an additional 5,781 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 264.2% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 19,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,342,000 after buying an additional 14,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 154.7% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 31,409 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,397,000 after acquiring an additional 19,075 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

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.