Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Lowered to $67.00 at Robert W. Baird

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price target decreased by Robert W. Baird from $110.00 to $67.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Bank of America upgraded Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group cut Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Celanese presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.00.

Celanese Stock Up 0.3 %

CE opened at $52.75 on Thursday. Celanese has a 12 month low of $51.24 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The business has a 50-day moving average of $68.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. On average, research analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Celanese by 155.3% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 23,317 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,614,000 after purchasing an additional 14,184 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 71.1% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,873 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 1,609 shares during the last quarter. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Celanese during the 4th quarter worth about $216,000. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in Celanese by 22.6% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 58,476 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,047,000 after acquiring an additional 10,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in Celanese by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 45,142 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,124,000 after acquiring an additional 2,734 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.