Robert W. Baird Lowers Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target to $67.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its target price reduced by research analysts at Robert W. Baird from $110.00 to $67.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 27.02% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday. UBS Group cut shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.53.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE opened at $52.75 on Thursday. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $51.24 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $68.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $97.16. The company has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.79, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Celanese by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $611,931,000 after acquiring an additional 136,994 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Celanese by 155.5% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,049,000 after acquiring an additional 130,037 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management grew its position in shares of Celanese by 6.5% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 160,443 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,814,000 after acquiring an additional 9,782 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Celanese by 21.7% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 233,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,744,000 after acquiring an additional 41,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Celanese by 7.6% during the third 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 during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.