Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Cut to $59.00 by Analysts at Bank of America

Key Points

• Bank of America has reduced its price target for Celanese from $65.00 to $59.00, while maintaining a "buy" rating, suggesting a potential upside of 38.66% from the stock's current price.
• Celanese's recent earnings report showed a positive earnings per share of $1.44, exceeding analysts' expectations, though revenue declined 4.5% year-over-year.
• Overall, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" from analysts, with varying price targets ranging from $46.00 to $70.00 from different firms.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) had its target price lowered by analysts at Bank of America from $65.00 to $59.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "buy" rating on the basic materials company's stock. Bank of America's target price would indicate a potential upside of 36.86% from the company's previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Celanese from $77.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Celanese from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen raised Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays increased their price target on Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Celanese from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and increased their price target for the company from $46.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $59.94.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE:CE traded up $0.63 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $43.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,261,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,840,512. Celanese has a 12-month low of $36.29 and a 12-month high of $142.54. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $54.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. The stock has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.91, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.10.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.50 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 10.48% and a negative net margin of 16.30%. Celanese's revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.38 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Celanese will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president directly owned 15,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at $807,120.24. This represents a 10.57% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CE. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese by 182.1% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 5,081,458 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $281,157,000 after acquiring an additional 3,280,109 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 4,506.7% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,344,661 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $162,274,000 after buying an additional 2,293,764 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the second quarter worth about $114,934,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 134.4% during the first 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 buying an additional 2,044,662 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company's stock.

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.