Citigroup Cuts Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target to $58.00

Key Points

• Citigroup lowered Celanese’s price target from $60 to $58 while maintaining a “buy” rating, implying approximately 29.7% upside from the stock’s $44.73 price.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with Celanese holding a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $62.60.
• Celanese beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $2.45 in EPS versus the $2.23 consensus, while revenue reached $2.75 billion and rose 8.7% year over year.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) had its price objective dropped by equities researchers at Citigroup from $60.00 to $58.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the basic materials company's stock. Citigroup's price objective suggests a potential upside of 29.68% from the company's current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on CE. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Celanese in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Celanese from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Mizuho set a $50.00 price objective on Celanese in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Celanese from $72.00 to $58.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Celanese presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $62.60.

Celanese Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of CE stock traded down $0.11 on Wednesday, hitting $44.73. The company had a trading volume of 561,430 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,136,021. Celanese has a twelve month low of $35.13 and a twelve month high of $70.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.45. The firm has a market cap of $4.91 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.76. The stock's 50-day moving average is $45.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.39.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $0.22. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 13.04% and a negative net margin of 12.04%.The business had revenue of $2.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. Celanese has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.350-1.750 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In related news, SVP Mark Murray acquired 2,153 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $45.52 per share, with a total value of $98,004.56. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 30,432 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,385,264.64. This trade represents a 7.61% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Celanese in the second quarter valued at approximately $614,675,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Celanese in the 2nd quarter valued at $62,580,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Celanese by 24.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,076,645 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Celanese by 83.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,187,235 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $143,849,000 after buying an additional 993,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the second quarter valued at $44,564,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Celanese

Celanese Corporation is a global chemical and specialty materials company headquartered in Irving, Texas. The company develops and manufactures engineered polymers, specialty chemicals and other materials used in a broad range of industries, including automotive, medical, electronics, consumer products, industrial equipment, coatings and packaging.

Celanese operates through two primary businesses: Engineered Materials and the Acetyl Chain. Its engineered materials portfolio includes high-performance thermoplastics, engineered polymers and other specialty compounds used to replace metal and conventional materials in demanding applications.

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