Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $153.13.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup cut their target price on Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at $9,033,840.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 0.6% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,899,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,560,608,000 after buying an additional 90,206 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 354,367 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings 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 worth $1,761,567,000 after purchasing an additional 329,740 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,529,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,325,161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,302,758 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,158,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,058,447,000 after purchasing an additional 21,085 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $135.96 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese has a twelve month low of $110.76 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $129.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $144.04.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.17 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Celanese will post 10.42 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is 15.41%.

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.