Wells Fargo & Company Upgrades Celanese (NYSE:CE) to Overweight

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $66.00 price objective on the basic materials company's stock, up from their prior price objective of $45.00. Wells Fargo & Company's target price indicates a potential upside of 20.98% from the company's previous close.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on CE. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Mizuho set a $45.00 price target on Celanese in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on Celanese from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $63.11.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE stock traded down $1.69 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $54.55. 1,229,002 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,256,860. The company has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.13. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $36.29 and a fifty-two week high of $147.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock's fifty day moving average is $49.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.13.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. Celanese had a negative net margin of 16.54% and a positive return on equity of 11.28%. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. Celanese's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 1,479 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $807,120.24. The trade was a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Dodge & Cox boosted its holdings in Celanese by 13.0% in the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 15,391,416 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $873,771,000 after buying an additional 1,773,354 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 105.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $274,714,000 after acquiring an additional 2,033,025 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Celanese by 134.4% in 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 period. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Celanese by 266.7% in the 4th 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. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Celanese during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $222,815,000. 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.