Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock Price

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price target reduced by Barclays from $151.00 to $101.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on CE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Vertical Research downgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded 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. Mizuho reduced their price target on Celanese from $132.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.12.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE:CE opened at $84.80 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $126.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.53. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $84.75 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. Celanese’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 10.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.17%.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at $9,033,840.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Celanese by 128.8% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Celanese in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Key Financial Inc increased its stake in Celanese by 3,933.3% during the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in Celanese during the second quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.