Vertical Research Upgrades Celanese (NYSE:CE) to “Hold”

Celanese (NYSE:CE) was upgraded by stock analysts at Vertical Research from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $66.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock. Vertical Research’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 19.39% from the stock’s previous close.

CE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citigroup upgraded shares of Celanese to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut 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 note on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.31.

Celanese Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $55.28 on Thursday. 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 12-month low of $45.94 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.97, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.47.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Celanese by 103.7% during 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 lifted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group lifted its holdings in Celanese by 52.9% during the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Celanese by 739.1% during the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.