Celanese (NYSE:CE) Upgraded by Bank of America to Buy Rating

Bank of America upgraded shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE - Free Report) from an underperform rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Bank of America currently has $88.00 price target on the basic materials company's stock, down from their previous price target of $95.00.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Celanese from $122.00 to $88.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group lowered Celanese from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered 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 note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Celanese from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Celanese from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $106.00.

Celanese Price Performance

Celanese stock traded up $3.67 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $71.05. The company had a trading volume of 2,291,455 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,195,307. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $64.05 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $7.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $110.59.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.17%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Celanese by 128.8% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the second quarter worth $28,000. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 124.0% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 401 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its position in Celanese by 1,395.3% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 643 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in Celanese in the 3rd quarter worth about $89,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.