Citigroup Cuts Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target to $52.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its target price reduced by Citigroup from $58.00 to $52.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

CE has been the topic of several other reports. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price 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. 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, February 20th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.61.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE opened at $40.83 on Friday. Celanese has a one year low of $39.62 and a one year high of $169.50. The business has a fifty day moving average of $59.42 and a 200 day moving average of $81.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.93, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share 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 12.86%. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.86%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in Celanese by 100.3% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $942,506,000 after purchasing an additional 6,818,993 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 27.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,286,230,000 after buying an additional 2,036,362 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Celanese by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $611,931,000 after acquiring an additional 136,994 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Celanese by 105.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $274,714,000 after acquiring an additional 2,033,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Celanese by 266.7% during the fourth quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $242,681,000 after acquiring an additional 2,550,334 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.