Celanese (NYSE:CE) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday after Robert W. Baird raised their price target on the stock from $65.00 to $75.00. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Celanese traded as high as $63.71 and last traded at $63.51, with a volume of 63766 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $61.54.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on CE. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Celanese in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Vertical Research raised Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Celanese from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Evercore set a $63.00 target price on Celanese in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.22.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 41.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 32,450 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 9,543 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in Celanese by 265.2% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 5,032 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $286,000 after buying an additional 3,654 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Celanese by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 21,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,200,000 after buying an additional 1,331 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB bought a new position in Celanese during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,433,000. Finally, Inceptionr LLC purchased a new position in Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth $628,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celanese Stock Up 3.0%

The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.94 billion, a PE ratio of -5.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.81.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion for 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 for the quarter was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.45 earnings per share. Celanese has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.700-0.850 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 24th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 24th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently -1.13%.

About Celanese

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.