Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Lowered to $184.00 at UBS Group

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its target price reduced by UBS Group from $193.00 to $184.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

CE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Mizuho increased their price target 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. Citigroup cut their target price on Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays downgraded Celanese from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $170.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Celanese from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Celanese from $147.00 to $144.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $159.65.

Celanese Price Performance

CE stock opened at $142.23 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. Celanese has a 52-week low of $110.76 and a 52-week high of $172.16. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $145.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $151.48.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.17. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.00% and a net margin of 18.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.01 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Celanese will post 11.41 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.41%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Celanese by 0.6% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,899,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,560,608,000 after buying an additional 90,206 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,337,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,761,567,000 after purchasing an additional 329,740 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 18.0% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its stake in Celanese by 0.3% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,158,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,058,447,000 after purchasing an additional 21,085 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.