Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Cuts Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target to $70.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its target price cut by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $85.00 to $70.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Citigroup raised Celanese to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho lowered their price target on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Celanese from $88.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.53.

Celanese Stock Down 4.4 %

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 fifty day moving average price is $68.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $97.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $5.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Celanese by 128.8% in the 3rd 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 period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in Celanese by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,265 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $308,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Celanese by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,954,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. Neumann Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Celanese by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in Celanese by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,197 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

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.