Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Short Interest Update

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) was the target of a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,170,000 shares, a drop of 6.5% from the January 15th total of 6,600,000 shares. Approximately 5.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,660,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dodge & Cox grew its position in shares of Celanese by 100.3% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $942,506,000 after buying an additional 6,818,993 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake 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 worth $1,286,230,000 after acquiring an additional 2,036,362 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Celanese by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $611,931,000 after acquiring an additional 136,994 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Celanese by 105.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $274,714,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 266.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of 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, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.06.

Celanese Stock Up 4.2 %

CE stock traded up $2.74 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $68.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,262,223 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,075,084. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.85, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. Celanese has a 52-week low of $64.05 and a 52-week high of $172.16.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.18%. Celanese’s payout ratio is 28.17%.

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.