KeyCorp Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective upped by KeyCorp from $76.00 to $77.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. KeyCorp’s target price points to a potential upside of 33.89% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on CE. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Celanese from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors upgraded Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.50.

Celanese Trading Down 3.0%

NYSE:CE opened at $57.51 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.94. Celanese has a 52 week low of $36.29 and a 52 week high of $147.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $55.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.52. The company has a market capitalization of $6.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.14.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. Celanese had a negative net margin of 16.54% and a positive return on equity of 11.28%. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction of $77,174.22. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 15,468 shares in the company, valued at $807,120.24. The trade was a 10.57% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. QSM Asset Management Ltd raised its holdings in Celanese by 21.4% in the 2nd quarter. QSM Asset Management Ltd now owns 99,275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,518,000 after buying an additional 17,525 shares during the last quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth about $315,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Celanese by 73.0% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,337 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 2,675 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,154,000. Finally, Matrix Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 12.1% during the second quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 3,086 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $171,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

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.