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

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at Citigroup from $100.00 to $73.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Citigroup’s price target suggests a potential upside of 5.97% from the stock’s current price.

CE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $165.00 to $115.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.39.

Celanese Price Performance

CE traded up $0.48 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $68.89. 394,849 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,100,385. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $97.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $121.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.17. Celanese has a one year low of $67.03 and a one year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.38 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CE. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 128.8% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Celanese during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Key Financial Inc lifted its holdings in Celanese by 3,933.3% during the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 124.0% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 401 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.