Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock Price

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Free Report) had its target price trimmed by Barclays from $101.00 to $88.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the basic materials company's stock.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on CE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Celanese from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Celanese from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Celanese from $132.00 to $120.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group downgraded Celanese from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $150.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $120.59.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE stock traded down $0.81 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $72.19. 4,900,855 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 950,121. The stock's 50-day moving average is $119.54 and its 200-day moving average is $132.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $7.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.31. Celanese has a 52 week low of $71.45 and a 52 week high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. Celanese's revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.50 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Celanese will post 8.67 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.17%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CE. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 45.1% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 689 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 13.4% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 14,608 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 464.6% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 7,170 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 5,900 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 264.2% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 19,441 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,342,000 after acquiring an additional 14,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC bought a new position in Celanese during the first quarter valued at $380,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.