Celanese (NYSE:CE) Downgraded to Sell Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Thursday morning.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Citigroup raised Celanese to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday. Barclays reduced their target price on Celanese from $88.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.53.

Celanese Trading Down 4.4 %

NYSE:CE opened at $52.51 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.67. The stock has a market cap of $5.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.17. Celanese has a 1 year low of $51.51 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.01% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -20.10%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CE. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 128.8% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 103.7% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CKW Financial Group raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 52.9% during the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.