Celanese (NYSE:CE) Hits New 1-Year Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) shares hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday after Bank of America lowered their price target on the stock from $88.00 to $72.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Celanese traded as low as $50.82 and last traded at $52.88, with a volume of 4729774 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $52.76.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dodge & Cox raised its holdings in Celanese by 100.3% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $942,506,000 after buying an additional 6,818,993 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter worth about $222,815,000. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Celanese by 266.7% during the fourth quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $242,681,000 after buying an additional 2,550,334 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 4,506.7% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,344,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $162,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,293,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Celanese by 27.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,036,362 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $67.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently -0.86%.

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.