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

Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the fifteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $153.13.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CE. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday.

Celanese Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE CE opened at $135.58 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $129.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.89. 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 12 month low of $110.76 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.46, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.30.

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

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.41%.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at $9,033,840.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the second quarter worth $28,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Key Financial Inc increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% during the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC purchased a new position in Celanese during the second quarter worth about $40,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.