Celanese (NYSE:CE) PT Lowered to $138.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective lowered by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from $142.00 to $138.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “market perform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target points to a potential upside of 7.63% from the company’s current price.

CE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Bank of America reduced their price target on Celanese from $147.00 to $144.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Barclays lowered their price target on Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Celanese presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.50.

Celanese Price Performance

NYSE:CE traded up $1.13 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $128.22. 380,474 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 736,155. Celanese has a 1-year low of $110.76 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The stock has a market cap of $14.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $139.59 and its 200-day moving average is $150.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.73% and a net margin of 18.24%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.17 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Celanese will post 11.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CE. UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 310,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,196,000 after buying an additional 35,898 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 109.2% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,047 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,133,000 after purchasing an additional 12,553 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Celanese by 14.7% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 122,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,011,000 after purchasing an additional 15,643 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Celanese by 41.4% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 128,423 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,071,000 after buying an additional 37,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Celanese by 264.2% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 19,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,342,000 after buying an additional 14,103 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.