Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Lowered to $80.00 at Morgan Stanley

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective decreased by Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $80.00 in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on CE. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group downgraded Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. KeyCorp downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $98.00 to $77.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.22.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $67.28 on Monday. Celanese has a 1 year low of $64.05 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The firm has a market cap of $7.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.77, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.18. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $73.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $111.07. 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 announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.50 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Celanese will post 8.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is presently 28.17%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CE. DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 128.8% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 124.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 401 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 1,395.3% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $89,000. 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.