Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Cut to $120.00 by Analysts at Mizuho

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective cut by Mizuho from $132.00 to $120.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on CE. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE opened at $91.00 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The firm has a market cap of $9.94 billion, a PE ratio of 5.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. Celanese has a 1-year low of $90.51 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $128.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.81.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.50 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 10.24 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 0.6% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,899,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,560,608,000 after purchasing an additional 90,206 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Celanese by 0.3% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,158,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,058,447,000 after acquiring an additional 21,085 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Celanese by 14.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,663,000 after acquiring an additional 150,201 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Celanese by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,085,522 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $146,426,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 378,507 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,057,000 after purchasing an additional 46,732 shares during 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.