Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Cut to $88.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective dropped by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $122.00 to $88.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 30.62% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on CE. BMO Capital Markets cut Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $138.00 to $76.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Vertical Research cut shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $110.50.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE CE traded down $0.57 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $67.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 812,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,110,595. Celanese has a 12 month low of $67.03 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $120.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $7.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.17.

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

Institutional Trading of Celanese

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CE. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Celanese by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 128,201 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,430,000 after acquiring an additional 13,503 shares during the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in Celanese during the third quarter valued at $1,302,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Celanese during the third quarter valued at $179,000. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co grew its stake 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. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in shares of Celanese by 36.3% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 47,678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,482,000 after buying an additional 12,701 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by 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.