Bank of America Upgrades Celanese (NYSE:CE) to “Buy”

Celanese (NYSE:CE) was upgraded by investment analysts at Bank of America from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $88.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $95.00. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 30.80% from the company’s previous close.

CE has been the subject of several other research reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Celanese from $100.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Vertical Research downgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.00.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE opened at $67.28 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.35 billion, a PE ratio of 6.77, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.18. Celanese has a 1 year low of $64.05 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.50 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Celanese in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in Celanese by 124.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 401 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 1,395.3% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Celanese during the 3rd quarter worth about $89,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.