Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Analyst Says

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective raised by equities researchers at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $70.00 to $75.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 31.25% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. KeyCorp raised shares of Celanese from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho dropped their price target on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.94.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE CE opened at $57.14 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. Celanese has a 1 year low of $45.94 and a 1 year high of $172.10.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CE. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Celanese by 33.3% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 34,950 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,419,000 after purchasing an additional 8,740 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 4th quarter valued at $1,952,000. Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the 4th quarter valued at $3,736,000. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the 4th quarter valued at $216,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in Celanese by 155.3% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 23,317 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,614,000 after purchasing an additional 14,184 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.