Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Lowered to $86.00 at Mizuho

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price target decreased by Mizuho from $120.00 to $86.00 in a report issued on Thursday. Mizuho currently has a neutral rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on CE. Barclays dropped their target price on Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. KeyCorp downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday. Vertical Research cut Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.56.

Celanese Stock Performance

CE opened at $69.44 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.59 billion, a PE ratio of 6.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.17. Celanese has a 12-month low of $69.02 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $106.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $125.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.50 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 8.38 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.17%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CE. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in Celanese in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,302,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $179,000. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 17,397 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,365,000 after buying an additional 3,906 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 36.3% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 47,678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,482,000 after buying an additional 12,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Celanese by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $353,145,000 after purchasing an additional 177,552 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.