Celanese (NYSE:CE) Hits New 12-Month Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $122.00 to $88.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Celanese traded as low as $66.99 and last traded at $67.03, with a volume of 2354418 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $67.94.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. KeyCorp lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Vertical Research lowered shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $110.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CE. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 27.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,286,230,000 after acquiring an additional 2,036,362 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Celanese by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $611,931,000 after purchasing an additional 136,994 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,145,000 after purchasing an additional 177,552 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 14.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $156,663,000 after purchasing an additional 150,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Celanese by 0.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,085,522 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $146,426,000 after buying an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Down 1.3 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.16. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $7.33 billion, a PE ratio of 6.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.50 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.