Celanese (NYSE:CE) Downgraded to Underweight at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler lowered shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE) from a neutral rating to an underweight rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $112.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $120.00.

CE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. 22nd Century Group reissued a downgrade rating on shares of Celanese in a research report on Monday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Celanese from $124.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Celanese from $128.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, August 10th. Morgan Stanley restated an equal weight rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Celanese in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Celanese from $146.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, August 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $126.13.

Celanese Price Performance

Celanese stock opened at $122.86 on Tuesday. Celanese has a 12 month low of $86.71 and a 12 month high of $128.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $119.70 and its 200-day moving average is $113.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The company has a market capitalization of $13.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.57, a PEG ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 1.32.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 7th. The basic materials company reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.46 by ($0.29). Celanese had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 17.68%. The firm had revenue of $2.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.99 EPS. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Celanese will post 9.14 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 28th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. Celanese’s payout ratio is 24.10%.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 14,015.5% during the second quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,997,033 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,157,656,000 after purchasing an additional 9,926,210 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 67.8% during the second quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,965,307 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $574,983,000 after purchasing an additional 2,005,881 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Celanese in the fourth quarter worth about $155,102,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Celanese by 33.8% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,094,706 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $445,872,000 after buying an additional 1,035,456 shares during the period. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Celanese by 555.1% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 515,453 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,700,000 after buying an additional 436,766 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Celanese

Celanese Corporation, a chemical and specialty materials company, manufactures and sells high performance engineered polymers in the United States and internationally. The company 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.