Celanese (NYSE:CE) Downgraded by Piper Sandler to Neutral

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) was downgraded by analysts at Piper Sandler from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $150.00 price target on the basic materials company's stock, down from their previous price target of $180.00. Piper Sandler's target price indicates a potential upside of 23.50% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on CE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Celanese from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Celanese from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $153.13.

Celanese Trading Down 2.3 %

Celanese stock traded down $2.85 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $121.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,082,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 746,660. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $133.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $147.05. Celanese has a 12 month low of $110.76 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The stock has a market cap of $13.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.17 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Celanese will post 10.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CE. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Celanese in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Celanese by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 188 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese in the first quarter worth $31,000. 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.