Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Raised to $171.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its target price raised by Royal Bank of Canada from $165.00 to $171.00 in a report issued on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

CE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Alembic Global Advisors cut shares of Celanese from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $160.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Celanese from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $149.56.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $154.83 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $158.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $144.19. Celanese has a twelve month low of $99.33 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.86 billion, a PE ratio of 8.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.36.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.05). Celanese had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 17.92%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Celanese will post 11.47 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 597 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $156.43 per share, for a total transaction of $93,388.71. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president now owns 11,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,814,588. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 597 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $156.43 per share, for a total transaction of $93,388.71. Following the completion of the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 11,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,814,588. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total value of $313,700.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 76,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CE. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Celanese by 43.2% in 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 buying an additional 1,852,099 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Celanese by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,529,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,325,161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,302,758 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Celanese by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,340,305 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $795,835,000 after purchasing an additional 570,501 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Celanese by 3.3% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Celanese by 2.8% in the 4th 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

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.