Celanese (NYSE:CE) Given New $54.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price target lowered by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $92.00 to $54.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 3.51% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays lowered their target price on Celanese from $88.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America raised Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup raised Celanese to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.88.

Celanese Trading Down 5.0 %

Shares of NYSE CE traded down $2.74 during trading on Thursday, reaching $52.17. The stock had a trading volume of 936,041 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,464,227. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $52.02 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $68.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.98. The company has a market cap of $5.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.74, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.01% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in Celanese by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $611,931,000 after acquiring an additional 136,994 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its position in Celanese by 155.5% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,049,000 after purchasing an additional 130,037 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management increased its position in Celanese by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 160,443 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,814,000 after purchasing an additional 9,782 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its position in Celanese by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 233,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,744,000 after purchasing an additional 41,598 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Celanese by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $134,723,000 after purchasing an additional 69,606 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.