Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Receives $149.56 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $149.56.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Celanese from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. cut Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $140.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Celanese from $169.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors cut Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $163.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.53. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $159.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $147.35. The firm has a market cap of $17.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.37. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $99.33 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.05). Celanese had a net margin of 17.92% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 11.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Celanese’s payout ratio is 15.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total transaction of $313,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 76,429 shares in the company, valued at $11,987,888.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total transaction of $313,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 76,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,987,888.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 597 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $156.43 per share, with a total value of $93,388.71. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,814,588. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 3.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Celanese by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,077,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,031,776,000 after buying an additional 354,367 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Celanese by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,337,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,761,567,000 after buying an additional 329,740 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,302,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,340,305 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $795,835,000 after acquiring an additional 570,501 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.