Bank of America Lowers Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target to $72.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) had its target price decreased by research analysts at Bank of America from $88.00 to $72.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the basic materials company's stock. Bank of America's price objective indicates a potential upside of 36.50% from the company's previous close.

CE has been the topic of a number of other reports. Citigroup raised Celanese to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Celanese from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Celanese has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $78.00.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE opened at $52.75 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a PE ratio of -3.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.17. Celanese has a 52-week low of $51.24 and a 52-week high of $172.16. 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 business's 50 day moving average price is $68.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.75.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Celanese by 103.7% during 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 position in 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. CKW Financial Group raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 52.9% in the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 739.1% during the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. 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.

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