Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock Rating Lowered by UBS Group

UBS Group downgraded shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report report published on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $97.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $161.00.

CE has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $163.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.35.

Celanese Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $73.94 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $123.30 and a 200-day moving average of $134.89. The firm has a market cap of $8.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.31. Celanese has a twelve month low of $72.94 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 8.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. This represents a 6.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CE. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Celanese by 128.8% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Key Financial Inc increased its position in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% during the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.