Wells Fargo & Company Downgrades Celanese (NYSE:CE) to Equal Weight

Celanese (NYSE:CE) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $115.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $165.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 24.41% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Celanese from $167.00 to $163.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. KeyCorp downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $135.59.

Celanese Stock Up 1.6 %

CE stock opened at $92.44 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $128.06 and a 200 day moving average of $137.49. The firm has a market cap of $10.10 billion, a PE ratio of 5.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. Celanese has a twelve month low of $90.51 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. Celanese’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Celanese will post 10.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CE. DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Celanese in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Key Financial Inc boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% in 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 during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the second quarter worth about $40,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Celanese

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.