Brokerages Set Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Target Price at $66.67

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Hold" from the seventeen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $66.67.

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut Celanese from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th.

Celanese Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE CE traded down $0.30 on Tuesday, hitting $59.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,583,797 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,718,706. The company's 50-day moving average is $62.68 and its 200 day moving average is $85.82. The firm has a market cap of $6.47 billion, a PE ratio of -4.25, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese has a 1-year low of $45.94 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

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Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. As a group, analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese's payout ratio is currently -0.86%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dodge & Cox increased its position in shares of Celanese by 100.3% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $942,506,000 after acquiring an additional 6,818,993 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Celanese by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,286,230,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036,362 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Celanese by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $611,931,000 after purchasing an additional 136,994 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 105.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $274,714,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 266.7% in the fourth quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $242,681,000 after purchasing an additional 2,550,334 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.