Celanese (NYSE:CE) Hits New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)’s share price reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $101.00 to $88.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Celanese traded as low as $71.50 and last traded at $72.18, with a volume of 112106 shares. The stock had previously closed at $73.00.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets lowered Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.59.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 27.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,286,230,000 after buying an additional 2,036,362 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Celanese by 608.2% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,754,000 after acquiring an additional 592,196 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 528.9% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 260,523 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,142,000 after acquiring an additional 219,095 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 7.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Celanese by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,663,000 after purchasing an additional 150,201 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Up 0.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a 50-day moving average of $118.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $132.00. The company has a market capitalization of $7.96 billion, a PE ratio of 7.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.31.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.84%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.17%.

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.