Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Raised to $45.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $40.00 to $45.00 in a research note released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $48.00 target price (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Vertical Research upgraded Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.89.

Celanese Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of CE opened at $51.25 on Wednesday. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $36.29 and a fifty-two week high of $161.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a PE ratio of -3.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s fifty day moving average is $48.56 and its 200 day moving average is $65.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.23%. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Celanese by 14.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 281,709 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,300,000 after buying an additional 34,658 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the third quarter valued at about $179,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 128,201 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,430,000 after purchasing an additional 13,503 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Celanese in the 4th quarter worth approximately $209,000. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank increased its stake in Celanese by 116.0% during the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 15,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,066,000 after purchasing an additional 8,269 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

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.