Barclays Has Lowered Expectations for Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock Price

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price target cut by equities researchers at Barclays from $88.00 to $75.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 5.02% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on CE. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Celanese from $122.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.06.

Celanese Trading Up 3.8 %

Celanese stock opened at $71.42 on Wednesday. Celanese has a 52 week low of $64.05 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $69.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $103.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $7.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.50 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 8.11 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 51.5% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 14,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,030,000 after acquiring an additional 5,057 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter worth about $540,000. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $962,000. Fisher Funds Management LTD purchased a new stake in Celanese in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,238,000. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 66.1% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 3,336 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,327 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.