Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) have earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the seventeen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $109.33.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CE shares. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $98.00 to $77.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Vertical Research cut shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. UBS Group cut shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $64.88 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37. Celanese has a 52-week low of $64.36 and a 52-week high of $172.16. The company has a fifty day moving average of $76.68 and a 200-day moving average of $112.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.18.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.50 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.38 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is 28.17%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Celanese by 27.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,286,230,000 after acquiring an additional 2,036,362 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Celanese by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $611,931,000 after buying an additional 136,994 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Celanese by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,145,000 after acquiring an additional 177,552 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Celanese by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,663,000 after acquiring an additional 150,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $134,723,000 after acquiring an additional 69,606 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.