Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Short Interest Update

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE – Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,730,000 shares, a growth of 28.8% from the December 15th total of 2,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,080,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days. Approximately 2.5% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE:CE opened at $121.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 4.73 and a quick ratio of 4.11. Celanese has a 1 year low of $86.71 and a 1 year high of $165.48. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $107.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.59. The company has a market cap of $13.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.04 and a beta of 1.26.

Celanese (NYSE:CE – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 3rd. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.98 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 17.20% and a return on equity of 42.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.82 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 16.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on CE shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Celanese from $124.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 11th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 18th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Monday, November 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Celanese by 92.6% during the 1st quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Clear Street Markets LLC lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 415.9% in the 2nd quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 227 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Aurora Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.54% of the company’s stock.

About Celanese

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Celanese Corp. engages in the provision of technology and specialty materials businesses. It operates through the following segments: Engineered Materials, Acetate Tow, Acetyl Chain and Other Activities. The Engineered Materials segment includes the engineered materials business, food ingredients business and certain strategic affiliates.