Celanese (NYSE:CE) Reaches New 52-Week Low After Earnings Miss

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) shares reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock traded as low as $98.01 and last traded at $99.00, with a volume of 541754 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $123.50.

The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The company 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 business earned $2.50 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CE shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $167.00 to $163.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $148.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CE. DT Investment Partners LLC lifted 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 position in shares of Celanese during the second quarter valued at $28,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Celanese in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Key Financial Inc increased its holdings in Celanese by 3,933.3% in the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in Celanese in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Down 24.2 %

The business has a fifty day moving average of $129.58 and a 200 day moving average of $138.25. The firm has a market cap of $10.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45.

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.