Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Receives $152.87 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the sixteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $151.44.

Several analysts recently issued reports on CE shares. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were 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 directly owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC bought a new position in Celanese during the first quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 25.9% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 24,996 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,296,000 after purchasing an additional 5,143 shares during the period. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the first quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the first quarter valued at approximately $363,000. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 16.9% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 1,659 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of CE stock opened at $124.81 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $129.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $138.91. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $114.05 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The stock has a market cap of $13.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.30.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.17 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 10.24 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.94%.

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.