Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Celanese (NYSE:CE)

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 11,714 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 317% compared to the typical volume of 2,810 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $165.00 to $115.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.00.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its position 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 valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its position in shares of Celanese by 122.5% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, CKW Financial Group lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 52.9% in the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $54.86 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $6.00 billion, a PE ratio of 5.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.17. Celanese has a 1 year low of $52.97 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Celanese will post 8.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. Celanese’s payout ratio is 28.17%.

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.