Celanese (NYSE:CE) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Celanese in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Celanese from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Celanese from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.71.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $65.21 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.15, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.55. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.55. Celanese has a 52 week low of $35.13 and a 52 week high of $68.77.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.89 by ($0.22). The company had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 12.15% and a positive return on equity of 8.75%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. Celanese has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.700-0.850 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Celanese will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 27th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is -1.13%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Celanese by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,840,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $500,610,000 after purchasing an additional 90,428 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Celanese by 24.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,565,556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $235,312,000 after buying an additional 1,076,645 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 21.0% during the 3rd quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,115,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $215,255,000 after acquiring an additional 887,600 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,094,781 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $173,127,000 after acquiring an additional 558,391 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,949,230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $166,973,000 after acquiring an additional 80,242 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Company Profile

Celanese Corporation is a global chemical and specialty materials company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of products serving diverse industries. The company operates through two primary business segments—Engineered Materials and Acetyl Chain—offering solutions that range from high-performance polymers and specialty additives to industrial chemicals and intermediates. Its engineered materials are used in applications such as automotive components, consumer electronics, medical devices and packaging, while its acetyl derivatives find uses in coatings, adhesives, solvents and personal care products.

In the Engineered Materials segment, Celanese produces a variety of high-performance thermoplastics, polyether-block-amide (PEBA) elastomers and functional additives designed to enhance product durability, thermal resistance and sustainability.