Robert W. Baird Has Lowered Expectations for Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock Price

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Free Report) had its price objective lowered by Robert W. Baird from $150.00 to $110.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the basic materials company's stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Piper Sandler cut shares of Celanese from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Vertical Research cut shares of Celanese from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. KeyCorp cut Celanese from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Celanese from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Celanese from $132.00 to $120.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $135.59.

Celanese Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of CE stock traded up $1.29 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $92.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,533,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 834,035. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. Celanese has a one year low of $90.51 and a one year high of $172.16. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $128.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $137.81. The company has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. Celanese's revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.50 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 10.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.94%.

Insider Activity

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Celanese by 15.3% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 15,922 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,111 shares during the period. Neumann Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC increased its position in Celanese by 26.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 13,303 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,809,000 after buying an additional 2,786 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in Celanese by 6.7% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 3,534 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $480,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in Celanese by 155.5% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $29,049,000 after buying an additional 130,037 shares during the last quarter. 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.