Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $66.94.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp upgraded Celanese from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com lowered Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Celanese to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $57.14 on Tuesday. Celanese has a 1 year low of $45.94 and a 1 year high of $172.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The firm has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.21%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.86%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $611,931,000 after acquiring an additional 136,994 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management boosted its position in Celanese by 6.5% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 160,443 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,814,000 after purchasing an additional 9,782 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Celanese by 7.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $134,723,000 after purchasing an additional 69,606 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Celanese by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $521,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 147,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,986,000 after purchasing an additional 16,308 shares in 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.