Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Cut to $128.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its target price decreased by research analysts at Bank of America from $137.00 to $128.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “underperform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 2.86% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on CE. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.13.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE traded down $2.06 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $124.44. The stock had a trading volume of 399,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 743,225. Celanese has a 52 week low of $110.76 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s fifty day moving average is $138.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $149.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.73%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.17 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 11.26 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Celanese by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,137,688 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $953,653,000 after purchasing an additional 1,852,099 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 18.0% during 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 buying an additional 1,302,758 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 3.3% during 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 buying an additional 468,003 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $2,031,776,000 after buying an additional 354,367 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 329,740 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by 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.