Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Increased to $171.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price target boosted by Royal Bank of Canada from $165.00 to $171.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on CE. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Celanese from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. lowered Celanese from a buy rating to a sell rating and set a $140.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup increased their target price on Celanese from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays lowered Celanese from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $170.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Bank of America lowered Celanese from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and increased their target price for the stock from $124.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $149.56.

Celanese Stock Down 0.1 %

CE stock opened at $154.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.36. The business has a 50-day moving average of $158.06 and a 200-day moving average of $143.87. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $99.33 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.05). Celanese had a net margin of 17.92% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 11.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.64%.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other Celanese news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly acquired 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $156.69 per share, with a total value of $219,366.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,934,933.87. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $156.43 per share, with a total value of $93,388.71. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,814,588. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $156.69 per share, with a total value of $219,366.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at $8,934,933.87. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Celanese by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,809,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,300,907,000 after buying an additional 468,003 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,077,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,031,776,000 after purchasing an additional 354,367 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Celanese by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,337,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,761,567,000 after purchasing an additional 329,740 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Celanese by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,529,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,325,161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,302,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,774,444 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $846,559,000 after purchasing an additional 131,705 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is 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.