Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) has received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $116.56.

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Piper Sandler downgraded Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CE. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the second quarter worth $40,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 5.5% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 5,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $758,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Celanese by 33.3% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,826 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 125.0% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Celanese by 4.0% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 73,996 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,981,000 after purchasing an additional 2,862 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Down 0.4 %

CE opened at $68.58 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.17. Celanese has a 52 week low of $67.03 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.89.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.