Celanese (NYSE:CE) Sets New 52-Week Low – Should You Sell?

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $64.36 and last traded at $64.88, with a volume of 2651798 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $66.30.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group cut shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho cut their price target on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.33.

Celanese Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $76.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $112.60. The company has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a PE ratio of 6.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.18.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.17%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CE. DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its position 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 worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its stake in Celanese by 1,395.3% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Celanese during the 3rd quarter valued at about $89,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.