KeyCorp Upgrades Celanese (NYSE:CE) to Overweight

Celanese (NYSE:CE) was upgraded by analysts at KeyCorp from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $76.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock. KeyCorp’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 33.91% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on CE. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of 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, Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.18.

Celanese Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $56.75 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.07, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese has a 52-week low of $45.94 and a 52-week high of $172.16. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.30. 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 (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 100.3% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $942,506,000 after buying an additional 6,818,993 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Celanese by 27.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,286,230,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036,362 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted 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 valued at $611,931,000 after purchasing an additional 136,994 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Celanese by 105.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $274,714,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Celanese by 266.7% during the 4th quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $242,681,000 after purchasing an additional 2,550,334 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.