Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Receives $159.65 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $162.75.

A number of brokerages recently commented on CE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Barclays downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Celanese from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Celanese from $147.00 to $144.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 10th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese in the second quarter valued at $208,000. XML Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Celanese by 8.0% in the second quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 4,040 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $545,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 2.7% in the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 3,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $464,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in Celanese in the second quarter valued at $2,736,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Celanese by 4.0% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 73,996 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,981,000 after purchasing an additional 2,862 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $136.13 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese has a 52 week low of $110.76 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $143.42 and a 200 day moving average of $150.86.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.67 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.60% and a return on equity of 14.00%. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.01 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Celanese will post 11.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.41%.

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.