Vertical Research upgraded shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE - Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $66.00 target price on the basic materials company's stock.
Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Celanese from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.31.
Get Our Latest Report on CE
Celanese Stock Performance
Shares of NYSE:CE traded up $0.06 during trading on Thursday, hitting $55.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,280,625 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,232,923. The company has a 50-day moving average of $65.01 and a 200-day moving average of $91.70. Celanese has a 12 month low of $45.94 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23.
Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.36 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.
Celanese Cuts Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.86%.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 0.7% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,730 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,954,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Celanese by 5.3% in the third quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $408,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in Celanese by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,197 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Celanese by 3.2% in the third quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,259 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $715,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Capital Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Celanese by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,167 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
About Celanese
(
Get Free Report)
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.
See Also
Before you consider Celanese, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Celanese wasn't on the list.
While Celanese currently has a Hold rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Just getting into the stock market? These 10 simple stocks can help beginning investors build long-term wealth without knowing options, technicals, or other advanced strategies.
Get This Free Report
Like this article? Share it with a colleague.
Link copied to clipboard.
