Celanese (NYSE:CE) Reaches New 12-Month Low After Analyst Downgrade

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $55.00 to $40.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Celanese traded as low as $36.29 and last traded at $43.92, with a volume of 6191340 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $37.49.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on CE. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Celanese from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three equities 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.89.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CE. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $521,000 after buying an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Celanese by 157.8% in the fourth quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,124 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $701,000 after acquiring an additional 6,197 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank grew its position in shares of Celanese by 116.0% in the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 15,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,066,000 after acquiring an additional 8,269 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,145,000 after purchasing an additional 177,552 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 57.5% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 48,792 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,634,000 after purchasing an additional 17,820 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average is $55.65 and its 200-day moving average is $78.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. 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 (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results 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 positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -0.86%.

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.