Morgan Stanley Lowers Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target to $100.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price target cut by Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $100.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on CE. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $167.00 to $163.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $132.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $135.59.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of Celanese stock traded down $0.71 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $91.73. The company had a trading volume of 639,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 839,035. The firm has a market cap of $10.02 billion, a PE ratio of 5.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. Celanese has a one year low of $90.51 and a one year high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $128.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $137.49.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 10.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is 15.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Celanese by 128.8% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the second quarter worth about $28,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Key Financial Inc boosted its stake in Celanese by 3,933.3% during the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the second quarter worth about $40,000. 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.