Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Issues Positive Forecast for Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock Price

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its target price hoisted by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $70.00 to $75.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on CE. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Alembic Global Advisors raised Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Vertical Research raised Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.94.

Celanese Stock Down 1.9 %

CE stock opened at $57.14 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $61.62 and a 200 day moving average of $84.34. The firm has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a PE ratio of -4.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese has a twelve month low of $45.94 and a twelve month high of $172.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.21%. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently -0.86%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 45.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 15,612 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,123,000 after purchasing an additional 4,908 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Celanese by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 13,306 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,809,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Celanese by 1.3% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 107,322 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,949,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 8.9% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 65,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the third quarter worth about $102,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.