Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Cut to $75.00 by Analysts at Evercore ISI

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price target decreased by Evercore ISI from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

CE has been the topic of a number of other reports. Citigroup raised Celanese to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. KeyCorp raised Celanese from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday. Bank of America cut their price target on Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.67.

Celanese Price Performance

NYSE CE opened at $59.54 on Monday. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $45.94 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $62.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.82. The firm has a market cap of $6.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. On average, analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.86%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dodge & Cox grew its stake in Celanese by 100.3% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $942,506,000 after purchasing an additional 6,818,993 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Celanese by 27.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,286,230,000 after acquiring an additional 2,036,362 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Celanese by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $611,931,000 after acquiring an additional 136,994 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 105.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $274,714,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 266.7% in the 4th quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $242,681,000 after purchasing an additional 2,550,334 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by 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.