Celanese (NYSE:CE) Cut to Sector Perform at Royal Bank of Canada

Celanese (NYSE:CE) was downgraded by Royal Bank of Canada from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They currently have a $56.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $84.00. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 2.09% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on CE. Barclays decreased their price objective on Celanese from $88.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup raised Celanese to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Vertical Research lowered Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Four equities 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.35.

Celanese Stock Down 21.5 %

NYSE:CE opened at $54.86 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.00 billion, a PE ratio of 5.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.17. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $68.90 and a 200-day moving average of $97.98. Celanese has a 52 week low of $52.97 and a 52 week high of $172.16. 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 (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. Analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.11 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 103.7% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. State of Wyoming lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 122.5% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, CKW Financial Group lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 52.9% in the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is 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.