Celanese (NYSE:CE) Upgraded at Vertical Research

Vertical Research upgraded shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $66.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on CE. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Celanese from $77.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.31.

Celanese Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $55.28 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The company has a market capitalization of $6.04 billion, a PE ratio of -3.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese has a 12-month low of $45.94 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.95.

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

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid 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 0.22%. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently -0.86%.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in Celanese by 100.3% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $942,506,000 after purchasing an additional 6,818,993 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in 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 worth $1,286,230,000 after buying an additional 2,036,362 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Celanese by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $611,931,000 after buying an additional 136,994 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Celanese by 105.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $274,714,000 after buying an additional 2,033,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 266.7% in the fourth quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $242,681,000 after acquiring an additional 2,550,334 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.