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

Celanese (NYSE:CE) posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41), Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the company posted $2.50 earnings per share. Celanese updated its Q4 guidance to $1.25 EPS and its Q4 2024 guidance to 1.250-1.250 EPS.

Celanese Stock Down 24.7 %

Shares of CE stock traded down $30.50 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $93.00. 6,881,601 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 803,421. The stock has a market cap of $10.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $129.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.25. Celanese has a 52-week low of $91.83 and a 52-week high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is 15.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on CE. Vertical Research cut shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares in the company, 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 through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.