Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Cut to $101.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Free Report) had its target price cut by Barclays from $151.00 to $101.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the basic materials company's stock.

CE has been the topic of several other reports. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $132.00 to $120.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Celanese from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Celanese from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Celanese from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Celanese from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $135.59.

Celanese Stock Up 1.6 %

CE stock traded up $1.44 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $92.44. 4,760,175 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 839,740. The firm has a market cap of $10.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. Celanese has a 1-year low of $90.51 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $128.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $137.81.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Celanese will post 10.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at $9,033,840.54. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CE. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Celanese by 128.8% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in Celanese during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Key Financial Inc raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% in the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the second quarter valued at $40,000. 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.