Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock Price

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price target decreased by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $80.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 19.89% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Vertical Research lowered Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $108.22.

Celanese Price Performance

Celanese stock traded up $1.72 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $66.73. The company had a trading volume of 368,285 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,989,432. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $111.07. The company has a market cap of $7.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $64.05 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.50 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 128.8% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in Celanese by 124.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 401 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 1,395.3% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the third quarter worth approximately $89,000. 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.