Celanese (NYSE:CE) Sets New 12-Month Low – Time to Sell?

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $68.35 and last traded at $68.39, with a volume of 80232 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.65.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CE. Piper Sandler cut shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Vertical Research cut shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays dropped their price target on Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.56.

Celanese Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $102.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $123.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a PE ratio of 7.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.18.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. Celanese’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.12%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.17%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CE. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 128.8% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in Celanese during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Key Financial Inc raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% in the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in Celanese in the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.