Short Interest in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Rises By 33.6%

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,700,000 shares, an increase of 33.6% from the February 13th total of 6,510,000 shares. Approximately 8.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,090,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. State of Wyoming increased its position in shares of Celanese by 122.5% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 52.9% in the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in Celanese by 739.1% during the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CE traded up $4.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $57.10. 2,434,952 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,159,542. The firm has a market cap of $6.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese has a 1-year low of $45.94 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The company 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on CE shares. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays cut their target price on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Vertical Research upgraded shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.31.

About Celanese

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.