Analysts Set Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Target Price at $120.59

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) has received an average rating of “Reduce” from the seventeen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $120.59.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CE. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Celanese from $163.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $132.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CE. KBC Group NV grew its position in Celanese by 155.5% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,049,000 after acquiring an additional 130,037 shares during the period. National Pension Service raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 21.7% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 233,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,744,000 after acquiring an additional 41,598 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 7.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 69,606 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its position in Celanese by 447.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,072 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,215,000 after acquiring an additional 5,781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in Celanese by 264.2% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 19,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,342,000 after purchasing an additional 14,103 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Down 4.8 %

Shares of CE stock opened at $72.85 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.33, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $115.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $129.97. Celanese has a twelve month low of $71.38 and a twelve month high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.50 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Celanese will post 8.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is 28.17%.

Celanese Company Profile

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.