Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Lowered to $72.00 at Bank of America

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price target reduced by Bank of America from $88.00 to $72.00 in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on CE. StockNews.com cut shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.00.

Celanese Stock Up 0.2 %

CE opened at $52.88 on Monday. Celanese has a twelve month low of $50.82 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The firm has a market cap of $5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.80, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted 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. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid 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 (DPR) is -0.86%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in Celanese by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,265 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $308,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 0.7% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,954,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 5.3% in the third quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,197 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Freedom Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Celanese by 3.2% during the third quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $715,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is 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.