Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $161.41.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CE shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Celanese from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Celanese from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Celanese from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Celanese from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CE. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 25.8% in the 4th quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 327 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 979 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $152,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 0.6% during the first quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 13,733 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,360,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Celanese by 2.8% during the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $137.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $14.96 billion, a PE ratio of 7.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. Celanese has a 12-month low of $105.15 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The company has a 50-day moving average of $151.89 and a 200 day moving average of $152.86.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.00% and a net margin of 18.60%. The business’s revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.01 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Celanese will post 11.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.