Celanese (NYSE:CE) Raised to Overweight at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $66.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $45.00.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Vertical Research upgraded shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $60.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.11.

Celanese Trading Down 0.1%

CE opened at $54.40 on Monday. Celanese has a 1-year low of $36.29 and a 1-year high of $147.86. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $49.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.95 billion, a PE ratio of -3.57, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 11.28% and a negative net margin of 16.54%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,479 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. First Hawaiian Bank increased its stake in Celanese by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 16,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $948,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 28.3% in the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 3,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 877 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its position in shares of Celanese by 9.0% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 20,823 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 1,719 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Celanese during the first quarter worth about $272,000. Finally, Northeast Financial Consultants Inc acquired a new position in Celanese during the first quarter valued at approximately $341,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

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.