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

Bank of America upgraded shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE) from an underperform rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $88.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $95.00.

CE has been the topic of several other reports. Mizuho cut their target price on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Celanese from $100.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Celanese from $122.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $106.00.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $71.94 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.24, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.18. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $64.05 and a fifty-two week 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. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $70.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $109.60.

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). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.50 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 128.8% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 5.2% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,265 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 7.0% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 0.7% during the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,954,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neumann Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.