Celanese (NYSE:CE) Given New $60.00 Price Target at UBS Group

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective reduced by UBS Group from $72.00 to $60.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on CE. Vertical Research cut Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America upgraded Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Royal Bank of Canada cut Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.00.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE opened at $52.75 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a PE ratio of -3.79, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.17. Celanese has a 1 year low of $51.24 and a 1 year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. On average, analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 128.8% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 103.7% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. State of Wyoming increased its holdings 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 valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, CKW Financial Group grew its holdings in Celanese by 52.9% during the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.