Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) saw a significant 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 company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,660,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. White Knight Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at $536,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Celanese in the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,572,000. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new position in Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $454,000. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 1,221.2% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 81,770 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,659,000 after buying an additional 75,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Celanese by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 3,263 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of Celanese stock traded up $1.86 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $69.92. The company had a trading volume of 354,255 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,091,945. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $69.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.72. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $64.05 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The firm has a market cap of $7.64 billion, a PE ratio of 7.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.17%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on CE. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $98.00 to $77.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Celanese from $100.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.06.

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.