Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Given Average Rating of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) have earned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the seventeen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $120.59.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets cut Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. raised its stake in Celanese by 2.7% in the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 3,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $464,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its position in shares of Celanese by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 839 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 585 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 27,552 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,716,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Celanese by 128.8% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE opened at $72.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $7.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.31. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $115.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $129.97. 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 1 year low of $71.38 and a 1 year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.50 earnings per share. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.84%. Celanese’s payout ratio is 28.17%.

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.