Wells Fargo & Company Boosts Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target to $195.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on CE. StockNews.com raised shares of Celanese from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Bank of America lowered Celanese from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and upped their price target for the company from $124.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Celanese from $150.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Celanese from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 13th. Finally, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. lowered shares of Celanese from a buy rating to a sell rating and set a $140.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Celanese has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $144.28.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $165.41 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. Celanese has a twelve month low of $97.12 and a twelve month high of $169.51. The company has a market cap of $18.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $151.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $138.80.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.05). Celanese had a net margin of 17.92% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese will post 11.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.64%.

Insider Activity

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 597 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $156.43 per share, with a total value of $93,388.71. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,600 shares in the company, valued at $1,814,588. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 597 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $156.43 per share, with a total value of $93,388.71. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,600 shares in the company, valued at $1,814,588. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total transaction of $313,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 76,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,809,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,300,907,000 after buying an additional 468,003 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,077,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,031,776,000 after purchasing an additional 354,367 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 3.0% in 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings 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, BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,774,444 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $846,559,000 after purchasing an additional 131,705 shares during the period. 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.