Robert W. Baird Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock Price

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its target price lowered by Robert W. Baird from $150.00 to $110.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Celanese from $167.00 to $163.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $130.12.

Celanese Stock Down 5.5 %

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $84.80 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.37. Celanese has a 52 week low of $84.75 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.53, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.31. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $126.33 and its 200 day moving average is $136.53.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese will post 10.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CE. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 608.2% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $93,754,000 after buying an additional 592,196 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 528.9% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 260,523 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,142,000 after buying an additional 219,095 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 14.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $156,663,000 after buying an additional 150,201 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 155.5% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,049,000 after buying an additional 130,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 512.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 118,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,064,000 after buying an additional 98,860 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.