Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) saw a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,310,000 shares, an increase of 22.8% from the December 31st total of 5,140,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,360,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days. Currently, 5.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Celanese by 27.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,286,230,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036,362 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Celanese by 608.2% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,754,000 after buying an additional 592,196 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Celanese by 139.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 512,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,453,000 after acquiring an additional 298,596 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $353,145,000 after acquiring an additional 177,552 shares during the period. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Celanese by 208.9% during the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 225,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $15,600,000 after acquiring an additional 152,441 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celanese Price Performance

CE opened at $70.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.51. Celanese has a one year low of $64.05 and a one year high of $172.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.18.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.50 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 8.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group cut Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Celanese from $100.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Four investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.82.

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.