Analysts Set Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Price Target at $153.13

Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fifteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $153.13.

CE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Celanese from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE opened at $136.67 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $129.24 and a 200-day moving average of $143.27. The company has a market cap of $14.93 billion, a PE ratio of 7.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Celanese has a one year low of $110.76 and a one year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.17 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Celanese will post 10.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Celanese by 109.2% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,047 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,133,000 after acquiring an additional 12,553 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Celanese by 14.7% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 122,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,011,000 after buying an additional 15,643 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 447.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,072 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after buying an additional 5,781 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Celanese by 41.4% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 128,423 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,071,000 after buying an additional 37,577 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Celanese by 264.2% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 19,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,342,000 after acquiring an additional 14,103 shares during the period. 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.