Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Mizuho Analyst Says

Celanese (NYSE:CE) had its price objective raised by investment analysts at Mizuho from $50.00 to $59.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Mizuho’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 3.65% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on CE. UBS Group raised their price target on Celanese from $51.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Alembic Global Advisors raised Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target (up from $53.00) on shares of Celanese in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Celanese from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.50.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE:CE opened at $56.92 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20. The stock has a market cap of $6.23 billion, a PE ratio of -3.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.14. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $36.29 and a fifty-two week high of $147.86.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released 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. Celanese had a negative net margin of 16.54% and a positive return on equity of 11.28%. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 1,479 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the purchase, the senior vice president directly owned 15,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CE. Dodge & Cox grew its position in Celanese by 100.3% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $942,506,000 after acquiring an additional 6,818,993 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the 4th quarter valued at about $222,815,000. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings 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. increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Celanese by 134.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,566,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $202,455,000 after buying an additional 2,044,662 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently 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.