KeyCorp Upgrades Celanese (NYSE:CE) to Overweight

KeyCorp upgraded shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE - Free Report) from a sector weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report report published on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $76.00 price target on the basic materials company's stock. KeyCorp also issued estimates for Celanese's FY2026 earnings at $7.61 EPS.

CE has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays cut their price objective on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Vertical Research raised Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $66.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $66.67.

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Celanese Price Performance

NYSE:CE traded down $0.30 on Friday, reaching $59.14. 2,583,797 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,721,992. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.82. Celanese has a 12 month low of $45.94 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The firm has a market cap of $6.47 billion, a PE ratio of -4.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.36 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,197 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Celanese by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,259 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $715,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Celanese by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,167 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group increased its position in shares of Celanese by 52.9% during the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Celanese by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,476 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 192 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.