UBS Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock Price

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective lowered by UBS Group from $60.00 to $46.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. UBS Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 14.27% from the stock’s current price.

CE has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays dropped their target price on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Citigroup cut their price target on Celanese from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp upgraded Celanese from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.72.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE CE traded down $0.74 on Monday, reaching $40.26. 3,625,227 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,865,015. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $59.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.53. The firm has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $36.83 and a fifty-two week high of $169.50.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued 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 positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 103.7% in the 4th 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 grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 122.5% in the 4th 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 period. CKW Financial Group increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 52.9% during the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 739.1% during the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the period. 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.