Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totalling 1,954,200 shares, an increase of 16.3% from the February 27th total of 1,680,000 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 911,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.
Shares of NYSE CE opened at $73.39 on Wednesday. Celanese has a twelve month low of $52.70 and a twelve month high of $128.88. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.13. The company has a market capitalization of $8.52 billion, a PE ratio of 10.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.
Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by ($0.10). Celanese had a return on equity of 37.36% and a net margin of 13.53%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.38 EPS. Celanese’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Celanese will post 10.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Celanese by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,093,881 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $873,399,000 after purchasing an additional 575,989 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Celanese by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,031,985 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $250,178,000 after purchasing an additional 10,940 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Celanese by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,308,357 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $161,085,000 after purchasing an additional 4,102 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Celanese in the fourth quarter worth $121,772,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Celanese by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 760,491 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,632,000 after purchasing an additional 27,922 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.31% of the company’s stock.
Several equities analysts recently commented on CE shares. SunTrust Banks dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese to and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. ValuEngine downgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Vertical Research raised shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of Celanese from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $108.32.
About Celanese
Celanese Corporation, a technology and specialty materials company, manufactures and sells high performance engineered polymers in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Engineered Materials, Acetate Tow, and Acetyl Chain segments. 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.