Robert W. Baird Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock Price

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective cut by Robert W. Baird from $150.00 to $110.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s target price suggests a potential upside of 22.60% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays dropped their price target on Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target 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. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.18.

Celanese Stock Down 2.9 %

CE opened at $89.72 on Wednesday. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $89.12 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. 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 $9.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $127.25 and a 200-day moving average of $137.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.23% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.50 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Celanese will post 10.24 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In related 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 109.2% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,047 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,133,000 after acquiring an additional 12,553 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Celanese by 14.7% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 122,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,011,000 after buying an additional 15,643 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Celanese by 447.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,072 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after buying an additional 5,781 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in Celanese by 264.2% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 19,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,342,000 after buying an additional 14,103 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Celanese by 154.7% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 31,409 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,397,000 after buying an additional 19,075 shares during the period. 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.