Celanese (NYSE:CE) Sets New 1-Year Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) hit a new 52-week low on Friday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $58.00 to $52.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Celanese traded as low as $39.62 and last traded at $41.65, with a volume of 1397850 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $47.20.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on CE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Vertical Research upgraded shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.61.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CE. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming grew its holdings in Celanese by 122.5% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group raised its position in Celanese by 52.9% during the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 739.1% in the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $60.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Celanese Co. 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

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.