Celanese (NYSE:CE) Sets New 12-Month Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $122.00 to $88.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Celanese traded as low as $66.99 and last traded at $67.03, with a volume of 2354418 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $67.94.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. KeyCorp lowered Celanese from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Celanese from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their target price for the company from $150.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $110.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 128,201 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $17,430,000 after acquiring an additional 13,503 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Celanese during the third quarter worth approximately $1,302,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $179,000. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its stake in Celanese by 29.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 17,397 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,365,000 after acquiring an additional 3,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in Celanese by 36.3% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 47,678 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $6,482,000 after acquiring an additional 12,701 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Celanese Stock Down 1.3 %

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 company has a market cap of $7.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.17. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $94.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $120.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last released 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 company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.50 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.17%.

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.