Piper Sandler Lowers Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target to $50.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective lowered by Piper Sandler from $77.00 to $50.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has an underweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.31.

Celanese Price Performance

CE stock opened at $54.43 on Tuesday. 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 has a 1 year low of $50.82 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The firm has a market cap of $5.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.17. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.72.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -0.86%.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CE. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 78,790 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,712,000 after purchasing an additional 4,794 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $16,080,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 1,074.1% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 21,439 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,915,000 after purchasing an additional 19,613 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 6,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $843,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 21,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,950,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the last quarter. 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.