Celanese (NYSE:CE) Sees Large Volume Increase – Time to Buy?

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Friday . Approximately 2,097,268 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 88% from the previous session’s volume of 1,113,487 shares.The stock last traded at $67.52 and had previously closed at $67.03.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CE shares. Piper Sandler lowered Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Vertical Research lowered Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. KeyCorp downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $110.50.

Celanese Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $119.79. The company has a market cap of $7.45 billion, a PE ratio of 6.86, a PEG ratio of 0.72 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 (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The business’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.50 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.17%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. 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 acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Celanese during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Key Financial Inc boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% in the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Celanese during the second quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in Celanese by 124.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 401 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

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.