Celanese (NYSE:CE) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

Celanese (NYSE:CE) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Vertical Research lowered shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America upgraded Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $95.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.53.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE traded down $2.41 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $52.51. 6,256,037 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,639,866. Celanese has a 12 month low of $51.51 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.17. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $68.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.67. 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Equities analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Celanese by 128.8% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its holdings in Celanese by 5.2% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,265 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Celanese by 0.7% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,954,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Celanese by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $408,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in shares of Celanese by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,197 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 156 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.