Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Lowers Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target to $70.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective cut by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $85.00 to $70.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America raised shares of Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. 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 note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday. Four 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.00.

Celanese Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of CE opened at $52.75 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.17. Celanese has a 12-month low of $51.24 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $68.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.95.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. Equities research analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 155.3% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 23,317 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,614,000 after acquiring an additional 14,184 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 71.1% during the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,873 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 1,609 shares in the last quarter. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at about $216,000. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 58,476 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,047,000 after acquiring an additional 10,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 45,142 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,124,000 after acquiring an additional 2,734 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.