Celanese (NYSE:CE) Upgraded at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has $110.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $135.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.12.

Celanese Price Performance

CE opened at $84.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $126.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. Celanese has a twelve month low of $84.75 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The company has a market capitalization of $9.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 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 13.23%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.50 earnings per share. Celanese’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Celanese will post 10.24 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.17%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,313,000 after purchasing an additional 927 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank boosted its stake in Celanese by 45.0% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 14,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,993,000 after purchasing an additional 4,552 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Celanese in the 3rd quarter worth about $397,000. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in Celanese by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 7,371 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in Celanese by 608.2% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,754,000 after purchasing an additional 592,196 shares in 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.