Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Raised to $171.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its target price boosted by Royal Bank of Canada from $165.00 to $171.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on CE. UBS Group raised their price objective on Celanese from $169.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Celanese from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. downgraded Celanese from a buy rating to a sell rating and set a $140.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Piper Sandler upgraded Celanese from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $170.00 in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an underweight rating and issued a $160.00 target price (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Celanese in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $149.56.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE CE opened at $154.83 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $158.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $144.19. Celanese has a twelve month low of $99.33 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The company has a market capitalization of $16.86 billion, a PE ratio of 8.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.05). Celanese had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 17.92%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Celanese will post 11.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total transaction of $313,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 76,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were bought at an average price of $156.69 per share, with a total value of $219,366.00. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,934,933.87. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total value of $313,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 76,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,809,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,300,907,000 after purchasing an additional 468,003 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Celanese by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,077,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,031,776,000 after acquiring an additional 354,367 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Celanese by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,337,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,761,567,000 after acquiring an additional 329,740 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Celanese by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,529,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,325,161,000 after acquiring an additional 1,302,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in Celanese by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,340,305 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $795,835,000 after acquiring an additional 570,501 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.