BMO Capital Markets Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock Price

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price target reduced by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $73.00 to $46.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “underperform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price suggests a potential downside of 12.79% from the stock’s current price.

CE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citigroup upgraded Celanese to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday. Barclays cut their target price on Celanese from $88.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group downgraded Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.53.

Celanese Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $52.75 on Thursday. Celanese has a 1 year low of $51.24 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $68.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Celanese by 128.8% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in Celanese during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming lifted its stake in Celanese by 122.5% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CKW Financial Group lifted its stake in Celanese by 52.9% during the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.