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

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its target price cut by Bank of America from $137.00 to $128.00 in a report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an underperform rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Celanese from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets reduced 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. Citigroup reduced their target price on Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $155.13.

Celanese Stock Up 1.3 %

CE traded up $1.65 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $126.84. 34,178 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 741,959. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.21. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $137.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $149.53. The company has a market cap of $13.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese has a one year low of $110.76 and a one year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.17 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Celanese will post 11.26 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 43.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,137,688 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $953,653,000 after buying an additional 1,852,099 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in 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 valued at $1,325,161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,302,758 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in 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 valued at $2,300,907,000 after purchasing an additional 468,003 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese by 2.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 354,367 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Celanese by 3.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

About Celanese

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.