Celanese (NYSE:CE) Lowered to “Sector Perform” Rating by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE) from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has $56.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $84.00.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on CE. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Celanese from $98.00 to $77.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $95.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.53.

Celanese Trading Down 4.4 %

NYSE:CE opened at $52.51 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $68.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Celanese has a 12 month low of $51.51 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a PE ratio of -3.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.01% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Research analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.23%. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently -20.10%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Celanese by 128.8% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 122.5% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CKW Financial Group raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 52.9% during the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.