Bank of America Cuts Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target to $72.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price target trimmed by Bank of America from $88.00 to $72.00 in a report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

CE has been the subject of several other research reports. Vertical Research lowered shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada cut Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.31.

Celanese Stock Down 3.1 %

CE stock opened at $52.71 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a PE ratio of -3.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.17. Celanese has a 12 month low of $50.82 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.42.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. Equities research analysts forecast that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Celanese’s payout ratio is presently -0.86%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Celanese during the 4th quarter worth $216,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 155.3% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 23,317 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,614,000 after purchasing an additional 14,184 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP increased its position in shares of Celanese by 71.1% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,873 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,609 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in Celanese by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 58,476 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,047,000 after purchasing an additional 10,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its stake in Celanese by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 45,142 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,124,000 after purchasing an additional 2,734 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.