Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Given Consensus Rating of “Reduce” by Analysts

Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) have received an average rating of “Reduce” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $110.50.

Several research firms have issued reports on CE. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $138.00 to $76.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the second quarter worth $28,000. Key Financial Inc boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% in the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Celanese during the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celanese Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:CE opened at $67.03 on Friday. Celanese has a 1 year low of $66.99 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The stock has a market cap of $7.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $119.79.

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). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.18%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.