Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective lifted by Barclays from $59.00 to $62.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

CE has been the subject of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Vertical Research upgraded shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.06.

Celanese Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $52.41 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a PE ratio of -3.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. Celanese has a twelve month low of $36.29 and a twelve month high of $161.44. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.08.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.20. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CE. Dodge & Cox grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 100.3% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $942,506,000 after purchasing an additional 6,818,993 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the 4th quarter worth $222,815,000. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 266.7% during the 4th quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $242,681,000 after purchasing an additional 2,550,334 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 4,506.7% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,344,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $162,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,293,764 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 134.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,566,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $202,455,000 after purchasing an additional 2,044,662 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.