Celanese (NYSE:CE) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.41 EPS

Celanese (NYSE:CE) issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41), Briefing.com reports. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. Celanese’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Celanese updated its Q4 guidance to $1.25 EPS and its Q4 2024 guidance to 1.250-1.250 EPS.

Celanese Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of CE stock opened at $92.44 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $10.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.26, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. Celanese has a 52-week low of $90.51 and a 52-week high of $172.16. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.49.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently 15.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $167.00 to $163.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, 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 note on Wednesday, August 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $135.59.

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.