Celanese Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:CE)

Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 4,520 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 94% compared to the average volume of 2,324 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CE. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Celanese by 41.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 32,450 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,842,000 after acquiring an additional 9,543 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in Celanese by 265.2% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 5,032 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 3,654 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Celanese by 144.9% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 755 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese by 42.1% in the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,768 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $430,000 after purchasing an additional 2,303 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 184,980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,235,000 after acquiring an additional 11,347 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CE has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Celanese from $53.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Celanese from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Celanese from $50.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Vertical Research upgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Celanese from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.06.

Celanese Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE CE traded up $0.32 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $46.25. 196,378 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,272,170. Celanese has a 1-year low of $35.13 and a 1-year high of $70.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.43. The firm has a market cap of $5.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.63, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.74.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.03). Celanese had a positive return on equity of 9.92% and a negative net margin of 11.54%.The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.57 EPS. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Celanese has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.000-2.400 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Celanese will post 5.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 27th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 27th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Celanese’s payout ratio is -1.20%.

About Celanese

Celanese Corporation is a global chemical and specialty materials company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of products serving diverse industries. The company operates through two primary business segments—Engineered Materials and Acetyl Chain—offering solutions that range from high-performance polymers and specialty additives to industrial chemicals and intermediates. Its engineered materials are used in applications such as automotive components, consumer electronics, medical devices and packaging, while its acetyl derivatives find uses in coatings, adhesives, solvents and personal care products.

In the Engineered Materials segment, Celanese produces a variety of high-performance thermoplastics, polyether-block-amide (PEBA) elastomers and functional additives designed to enhance product durability, thermal resistance and sustainability.