Celanese (NYSE:CE) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Barclays cut 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. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Celanese to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.53.

Celanese Stock Up 0.3 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company 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 $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Celanese’s payout ratio is -20.10%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CE. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Celanese by 137.8% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $173,000 after acquiring an additional 744 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 78,790 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,712,000 after purchasing an additional 4,794 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 512.5% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 118,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,064,000 after buying an additional 98,860 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI bought a new position in shares of Celanese during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $269,000. Finally, Greenleaf Trust boosted its stake in Celanese by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 7,329 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $996,000 after buying an additional 325 shares in 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.