Celanese (NYSE:CE) Downgraded to Underweight Rating by Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE - Free Report) from a neutral rating to an underweight rating in a research report report published on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. Piper Sandler currently has $98.00 price target on the basic materials company's stock, down from their previous price target of $150.00.

CE has been the topic of a number of other reports. Mizuho cut their price target on Celanese from $132.00 to $120.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays decreased their target price on Celanese from $151.00 to $101.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp downgraded Celanese from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $163.00 to $122.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Celanese from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $165.00 to $115.00 in a report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $130.12.

Celanese Trading Down 5.5 %

NYSE CE traded down $4.95 on Friday, reaching $84.77. The stock had a trading volume of 4,419,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 868,092. Celanese has a 12-month low of $84.75 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $126.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.23%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.50 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese's payout ratio is 28.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 128.8% during the 3rd 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 period. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in Celanese in the second quarter valued at $28,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Celanese in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Key Financial Inc grew its position in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% during the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 2nd quarter worth about $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.