Celanese (NYSE:CE) Shares Up 6.7% - Here's Why

Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) shot up 6.7% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $72.08 and last traded at $71.87. 558,439 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 1,959,592 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.38.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CE. Vertical Research downgraded Celanese from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Celanese from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and cut their price target for the company from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho cut their price target on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group downgraded Celanese from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Celanese from $122.00 to $88.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $106.00.

Celanese Price Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.87. The stock has a market cap of $7.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.50 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.13 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Celanese by 27.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,286,230,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036,362 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Celanese by 608.2% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $93,754,000 after purchasing an additional 592,196 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Celanese by 7.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $353,145,000 after purchasing an additional 177,552 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Celanese by 208.9% during the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 225,402 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $15,600,000 after purchasing an additional 152,441 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Celanese by 14.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $156,663,000 after purchasing an additional 150,201 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Celanese Company Profile

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.

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