Celanese (NYSE:CE) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $66.67 and last traded at $66.77, with a volume of 898026 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.42.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on CE. Vertical Research downgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.50.

Celanese Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $79.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $113.96. The company has a market cap of $7.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.65, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.18.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.50 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is 28.17%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Celanese by 128.8% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 1,663 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 5.2% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,265 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $308,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 7.0% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Celanese by 0.7% during the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,954,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.