Celanese (NYSE:CE) Given New $163.00 Price Target at Royal Bank of Canada

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Free Report) had its price objective trimmed by Royal Bank of Canada from $167.00 to $163.00 in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the basic materials company's stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on CE. KeyCorp lowered shares of Celanese from an overweight rating to a sector weight rating in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler cut Celanese from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $152.87.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE traded up $1.33 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $136.18. 509,141 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 783,200. The company has a market cap of $14.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The company's 50-day moving average price is $128.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $142.29. Celanese has a 52-week low of $110.76 and a 52-week high of $172.16.

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 business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The business's revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.17 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 10.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

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

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Celanese during the first quarter worth $31,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Key Financial Inc increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% in the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the 2nd quarter worth $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.