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

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price target decreased by analysts at Robert W. Baird from $110.00 to $67.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 27.02% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $98.00 to $77.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.53.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of 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 fifty day simple moving average of $68.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The firm has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a PE ratio of -3.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dodge & Cox increased its holdings in Celanese by 100.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Celanese by 27.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,286,230,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036,362 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $611,931,000 after acquiring an additional 136,994 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 105.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $274,714,000 after acquiring an additional 2,033,025 shares during the period. Finally, Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 266.7% in the 4th quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $242,681,000 after acquiring an additional 2,550,334 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

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.