Celanese (NYSE:CE) Upgraded by Vertical Research to “Hold” Rating

Vertical Research upgraded shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. Vertical Research currently has $66.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on CE. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup raised shares of Celanese to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $77.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.31.

Celanese Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $55.25 on Thursday. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $45.94 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.97, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.17. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $65.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.73.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently -0.86%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake 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 worth $26,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. State of Wyoming grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 122.5% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group increased its position 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 valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in Celanese by 739.1% in the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

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.