Celanese (NYSE:CE) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Tuesday.

CE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Celanese from $60.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Alembic Global Advisors raised Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “underweight” rating and set a $48.00 target price (down from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a report on Monday, April 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.89.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $51.78 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $48.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.20. The firm has a market cap of $5.66 billion, a PE ratio of -3.72, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. Celanese has a 1-year low of $36.29 and a 1-year high of $169.50.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. Celanese’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.08 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.23%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently -0.86%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Celanese by 103.7% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in 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 purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 127.0% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 622 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CKW Financial Group grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 52.9% in the 4th 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 period. 98.87% of the stock is 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.