Celanese (NYSE:CE) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $64.36 and last traded at $64.88, with a volume of 2651798 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.30.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their target price on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $122.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Vertical Research cut Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.33.

Celanese Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.53, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.18. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.60.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced 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). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 4.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.17%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Celanese by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,286,230,000 after buying an additional 2,036,362 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Celanese by 3.1% during the 3rd 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. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Celanese by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,145,000 after purchasing an additional 177,552 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,663,000 after purchasing an additional 150,201 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $134,723,000 after purchasing an additional 69,606 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

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.