Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock Price

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) had its price target increased by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $40.00 to $45.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "equal weight" rating on the basic materials company's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price objective points to a potential downside of 12.20% from the company's previous close.

CE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Mizuho set a $45.00 price objective on Celanese in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Vertical Research upgraded shares of Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $66.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $61.89.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE traded down $0.46 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $51.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,396,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,144,887. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.64. Celanese has a 52-week low of $36.29 and a 52-week high of $161.94. 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 has a market cap of $5.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.68, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. Celanese's revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Celanese in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 122.5% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 52.9% in the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Celanese by 739.1% during the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.