Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Lowered to $55.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price target cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $75.00 to $55.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on CE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Celanese from $98.00 to $77.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets cut Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Citigroup raised Celanese to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $73.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.53.

Celanese Stock Down 4.4 %

NYSE CE opened at $52.51 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $68.57 and its 200 day moving average is $97.67. 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 has a 12 month low of $51.51 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The stock has a market cap of $5.74 billion, a PE ratio of -3.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.01% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Research analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -20.10%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Celanese by 137.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $173,000 after buying an additional 744 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Celanese by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 78,790 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,712,000 after buying an additional 4,794 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Celanese by 512.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 118,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,064,000 after buying an additional 98,860 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI bought a new position in shares of Celanese during the 3rd quarter worth $269,000. Finally, Greenleaf Trust grew its position in shares of Celanese by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 7,329 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $996,000 after buying an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

About Celanese

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.