BMO Capital Markets Upgrades Celanese (NYSE:CE) to "Market Perform"

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report released on Tuesday,Finviz reports. The brokerage currently has a $55.00 price objective on the basic materials company's stock. BMO Capital Markets' price target indicates a potential upside of 4.90% from the company's current price.

CE has been the topic of several other research reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $48.00 price target (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Celanese from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.94.

Celanese Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $52.43 on Tuesday. Celanese has a 52-week low of $36.29 and a 52-week high of $157.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a PE ratio of -3.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company's fifty day moving average price is $48.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.64.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 1st quarter worth approximately $272,000. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc acquired a new stake in Celanese during the 1st quarter worth $341,000. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in Celanese during the 1st quarter worth $382,000. Sciencast Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 1st quarter valued at $358,000. Finally, Samlyn Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 379.1% in the 1st quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 1,015,938 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $57,675,000 after purchasing an additional 803,868 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Company Profile

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.

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