Celanese (NYSE:CE) Hits New 12-Month Low - Time to Sell?

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $71.50 and last traded at $72.18, with a volume of 112106 shares. The stock had previously closed at $73.00.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler downgraded Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their target price for the company from $150.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded 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 report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Celanese from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $120.59.

Celanese Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $7.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.31. The firm's 50-day moving average is $119.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $132.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.50 EPS. Celanese's revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is currently 28.17%.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 3,441 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $464,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its holdings in Celanese by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 839 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 585 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 27,552 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,716,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 128.8% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

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.