Celanese (NYSE:CE) Hits New 52-Week Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $58.00 to $52.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Celanese traded as low as $39.62 and last traded at $41.65, with a volume of 1397850 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $47.20.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on CE. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of 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, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten 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 $65.61.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in Celanese during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 103.7% in the 4th 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 during the period. State of Wyoming boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group grew its stake in Celanese by 52.9% in the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC raised its holdings in Celanese by 739.1% in the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.15. The firm has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of -2.93, 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.86%.

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.