BMO Capital Markets Reiterates “$47.00” Price Target for Celanese (NYSE:CE)

Celanese (NYSE:CE) received a $47.00 price target from research analysts at BMO Capital Markets in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 10.15% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Celanese from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Celanese from $67.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Celanese from $65.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho increased their price objective on Celanese from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Celanese from $77.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.94.

Celanese Trading Up 2.1%

CE stock opened at $42.67 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $55.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.96. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $36.29 and a fifty-two week high of $142.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.11.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.38 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 1,479 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction of $77,174.22. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Celanese during the first quarter worth about $292,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in Celanese during the first quarter worth about $907,000. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in Celanese by 127.0% during the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 622 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in Celanese by 55.1% during the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 33,508 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,902,000 after acquiring an additional 11,905 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Celanese by 20.8% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 42,225 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,397,000 after acquiring an additional 7,275 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by 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.