Celanese (NYSE:CE) Price Target Raised to $65.00

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) had its price objective boosted by equities researchers at Citigroup from $52.00 to $65.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "neutral" rating on the basic materials company's stock. Citigroup's price objective indicates a potential upside of 4.15% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on CE. Bank of America boosted their target price on Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Celanese from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Celanese from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $65.33.

Celanese Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of CE traded up $1.64 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $62.41. 1,785,005 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,295,223. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.94. The firm has a market cap of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.14. Celanese has a 52-week low of $36.29 and a 52-week high of $147.86. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.84.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 16.54% and a positive return on equity of 11.28%. The firm's revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate 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 business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the purchase, the senior vice president directly owned 15,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 123.2% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,194 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $152,000 after buying an additional 1,211 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,118,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at about $7,168,000. Amundi grew its position in shares of Celanese by 43.0% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 358,694 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $23,294,000 after purchasing an additional 107,779 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 70.3% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 79,579 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $5,508,000 after purchasing an additional 32,856 shares during the last quarter. 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.