Celanese (NYSE:CE) Rating Lowered to “Underperform” at BMO Capital Markets

Celanese (NYSE:CE) was downgraded by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $76.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $138.00. BMO Capital Markets’ price target points to a potential upside of 0.39% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Celanese from $132.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Five research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $121.35.

Celanese Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of CE opened at $75.71 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $8.27 billion, a PE ratio of 7.62, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.31. Celanese has a 1 year low of $75.26 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $124.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.32.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at $9,033,840.54. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CE. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Celanese by 128.8% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Key Financial Inc increased its position in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% during the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the second quarter worth $40,000. 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.