Celanese (NYSE:CE) PT Set at $47.00 by BMO Capital Markets

Celanese (NYSE:CE) received a $47.00 price target from research analysts at BMO Capital Markets in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 11.31% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price (up from $53.00) on shares of Celanese in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $77.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price target on Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $52.00 price objective on Celanese and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.94.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CE traded down $0.40 on Thursday, reaching $42.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 107,810 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,833,502. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.96. Celanese has a 52-week low of $36.29 and a 52-week high of $142.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 2.05. The company has a market cap of $4.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.87, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.10.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.06. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 10.48% and a negative net margin of 16.30%. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.38 earnings per share. Celanese’s revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,479 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president directly owned 15,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $807,120.24. This represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 73.2% in the 1st quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. State of Wyoming boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 122.5% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Celanese by 55.4% during the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 623 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

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.