Evercore ISI Cuts Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target to $75.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its target price decreased by Evercore ISI from $85.00 to $75.00 in a report issued on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on CE. Citigroup upgraded Celanese to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.67.

Celanese Stock Up 0.0 %

CE stock opened at $59.17 on Monday. Celanese has a 52 week low of $45.94 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $6.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $62.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $85.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released 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 firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. On average, research analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently -0.86%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Celanese by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $611,931,000 after purchasing an additional 136,994 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 6.5% in the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 160,443 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,814,000 after buying an additional 9,782 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 7.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $134,723,000 after buying an additional 69,606 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in Celanese by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $521,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Celanese by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 147,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,986,000 after acquiring an additional 16,308 shares in the last quarter. 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.