Jefferies Financial Group Has Lowered Expectations for Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock Price

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group has reduced Celanese's price target from $47.00 to $43.00, indicating a potential downside of 11.66% from its previous close.
• As of now, Celanese has an average rating of "Hold" among analysts, with six Buy ratings, eleven Hold ratings, and two Sell ratings.
• Celanese reported a quarterly EPS of $1.44, beating expectations, but also noted a 4.5% year-over-year revenue decline.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) had its price target cut by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $47.00 to $43.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "hold" rating on the basic materials company's stock. Jefferies Financial Group's price objective points to a potential downside of 5.91% from the company's previous close.

CE has been the topic of several other reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group cut their price target on Celanese from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Celanese from $67.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Celanese from $55.00 to $47.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Celanese from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $57.22.

Celanese Trading Down 2.5%

NYSE:CE traded down $1.17 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $45.70. 971,594 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,746,889. The company's 50 day moving average is $51.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.23. Celanese has a twelve month low of $36.29 and a twelve month high of $142.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. The company has a market capitalization of $5.00 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.11.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.06. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 10.48% and a negative net margin of 16.30%.The business had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.38 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Celanese has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.100-1.400 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other Celanese news, Director Timothy Go acquired 1,039 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $46.25 per share, for a total transaction of $48,053.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 4,415 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,193.75. This trade represents a 30.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Celanese by 182.1% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 5,081,458 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $281,157,000 after buying an additional 3,280,109 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Celanese by 266.7% in the fourth quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $242,681,000 after acquiring an additional 2,550,334 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese in the second quarter valued at about $114,934,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Celanese by 134.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,566,226 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $202,455,000 after purchasing an additional 2,044,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dodge & Cox increased its position in shares of Celanese by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 15,391,416 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $873,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,773,354 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Celanese

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.