UBS Group Trims Celanese (NYSE:CE) Target Price to $184.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective cut by UBS Group from $193.00 to $184.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on CE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 10th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $161.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $159.65.

Celanese Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of CE opened at $139.19 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $146.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $151.58. Celanese has a twelve month low of $110.76 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.66, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.30.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.17. Celanese had a net margin of 18.60% and a return on equity of 14.00%. The company had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.01 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Celanese will post 11.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CE. Comerica Bank acquired a new position in Celanese during the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,879,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 1.0% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 187,134 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,489,000 after acquiring an additional 1,897 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 51.1% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 2.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,722,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,596,947,000 after acquiring an additional 323,862 shares during the period. Finally, Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $218,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by 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.