Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the seventeen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $159.41.

CE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Celanese from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $158.00 target price on shares of Celanese in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $147.00 to $144.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 10th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CE. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,137,688 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $953,653,000 after acquiring an additional 1,852,099 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,529,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,325,161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,302,758 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Celanese by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,809,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,300,907,000 after purchasing an additional 468,003 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Celanese by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,077,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,031,776,000 after purchasing an additional 354,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in Celanese by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,337,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,761,567,000 after buying an additional 329,740 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Performance

CE stock opened at $135.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.84 billion, a PE ratio of 7.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $150.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $152.66. Celanese has a 1-year low of $109.38 and a 1-year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.17. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.00% and a net margin of 18.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.01 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Celanese will post 11.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.41%.

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.