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

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective cut by Bank of America from $88.00 to $72.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

CE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Celanese from $98.00 to $77.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised Celanese to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.31.

Celanese Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of CE opened at $52.71 on Monday. 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 52-week low of $50.82 and a 52-week high of $172.16. The firm has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.78, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.17. The business’s fifty day moving average is $67.36 and its 200-day moving average is $95.42.

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

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently -0.86%.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming grew its holdings in Celanese by 122.5% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group lifted its stake in Celanese by 52.9% during the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Celanese by 739.1% during the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 473 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.