Celanese (NYSE:CE) Lowered to “Underweight” Rating by Piper Sandler

Celanese (NYSE:CE) was downgraded by Piper Sandler from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $98.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $150.00. Piper Sandler’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 15.57% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on CE. Barclays dropped their price target on Celanese from $151.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $132.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.12.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $84.80 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $126.33 and a 200-day moving average of $136.53. The company has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. Celanese has a 52 week low of $84.75 and a 52 week high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Celanese will post 10.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 109.2% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,047 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,133,000 after acquiring an additional 12,553 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Celanese by 14.7% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 122,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,011,000 after purchasing an additional 15,643 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its position in Celanese by 21.7% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 233,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,744,000 after purchasing an additional 41,598 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake in Celanese by 447.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,072 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,215,000 after buying an additional 5,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 264.2% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 19,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,342,000 after buying an additional 14,103 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

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.