Wall Street Zen Upgrades Celanese (NYSE:CE) to Buy

by · The Cerbat Gem

Celanese (NYSE:CE – Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on CE. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $72.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $57.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Mizuho set a $50.00 target price on shares of Celanese in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, KeyCorp initiated coverage on Celanese in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.56.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Celanese

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $46.48 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $51.45. Celanese has a twelve month low of $35.13 and a twelve month high of $70.70.

Celanese (NYSE:CE – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The basic materials company reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.09. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.63% and a net margin of 2.66%. The firm had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 6.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Murray purchased 2,153 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $45.52 per share, with a total value of $98,004.56. Following the completion of the purchase, the senior vice president owned 30,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,385,264.64. The trade was a 7.61% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CE. Robinhood Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,581,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Celanese during the 3rd quarter valued at about $19,131,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,261,000. Tejara Capital Ltd bought a new position in Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,916,000. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC bought a new position in Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,026,000. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

About Celanese

(Get Free Report)

Celanese Corporation is a global chemicals and specialty materials company that develops and manufactures engineered polymers and acetyl-based products. Its materials are used in applications across industries including automotive, consumer goods, medical, industrial, paints and coatings, and adhesives.

The company’s portfolio includes engineered thermoplastics and other polymers, as well as acetyl products such as acetic acid, vinyl acetate monomer, and related emulsions and derivatives.

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