Barclays Lowers Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target to $101.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price target reduced by equities research analysts at Barclays from $151.00 to $101.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Barclays‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 12.57% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on CE. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.18.

Celanese Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $89.72 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.80 billion, a PE ratio of 9.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. Celanese has a 52 week low of $89.12 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $127.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $137.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (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 13.23%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.50 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 10.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Celanese by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese by 2.7% during the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 3,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $464,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Jacobi Capital Management LLC grew its position in Celanese by 3.1% during the first quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 3,188 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $548,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in Celanese by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 839 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 585 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. 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.