Celanese (NYSE:CE) Raised to “Overweight” at Alembic Global Advisors

Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $70.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Vertical Research upgraded shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $77.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.18.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $57.26 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. Celanese has a 52 week low of $45.94 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $6.26 billion, a PE ratio of -4.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted 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 negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.21%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently -0.86%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 136,994 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management increased its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $521,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Celanese by 12.5% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 147,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,986,000 after purchasing an additional 16,308 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.