Citigroup Cuts Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target to $73.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its target price cut by Citigroup from $100.00 to $73.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on CE. BMO Capital Markets lowered Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $138.00 to $76.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler cut Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Celanese from $163.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.50.

Celanese Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of CE opened at $68.25 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $92.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $119.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37. Celanese has a 1 year low of $66.73 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.46 billion, a PE ratio of 6.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.50 EPS. Analysts forecast that Celanese will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.17%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Celanese by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,286,230,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036,362 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 608.2% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,754,000 after acquiring an additional 592,196 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 528.9% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 260,523 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,142,000 after acquiring an additional 219,095 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 7.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $353,145,000 after acquiring an additional 177,552 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Celanese by 14.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,663,000 after purchasing an additional 150,201 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.