Celanese (NYSE:CE) Updates Q3 Earnings Guidance

Celanese (NYSE:CE) updated its third quarter earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $2.75-3.00 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $3.19. Celanese also updated its FY24 guidance to $10.25-10.75 EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on CE. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a market perform rating and issued a $158.00 price target on shares of Celanese in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Celanese from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target 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. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $161.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an underweight rating and issued a $160.00 price objective (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Celanese in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $162.75.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE traded down $3.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $137.55. 1,042,573 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 721,971. Celanese has a 1-year low of $110.76 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.21. The company has a 50 day moving average of $141.32 and a 200-day moving average of $150.44. The stock has a market cap of $15.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.30.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.17. Celanese had a net margin of 18.60% and a return on equity of 14.00%. The firm had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.01 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Celanese will post 11.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.41%.

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.