Celanese (NYSE:CE) Given New $55.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $75.00 to $55.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Celanese from $98.00 to $77.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group cut Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.53.

Celanese Price Performance

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

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Research analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 128.8% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in Celanese by 5.2% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,265 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Celanese by 0.7% during the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,954,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. Neumann Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Celanese by 5.3% during the third quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $408,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in Celanese by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,197 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.