Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Cut to $40.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $40.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on CE. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Celanese from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.89.

Celanese Trading Down 15.6 %

Shares of CE traded down $6.83 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $37.07. 1,324,033 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,518,140. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $36.29 and a fifty-two week high of $169.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $56.28 and a 200-day moving average of $79.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 expect that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CE. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming increased its holdings in Celanese by 122.5% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group boosted its holdings in Celanese by 52.9% in the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 739.1% in the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by 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.