Celanese (NYSE:CE) Given New $77.00 Price Target at KeyCorp

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) had its price objective lifted by equities researchers at KeyCorp from $76.00 to $77.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the basic materials company's stock. KeyCorp's price target would indicate a potential upside of 31.77% from the company's previous close.

CE has been the subject of several other reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $48.00 price target (down from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a report on Monday, April 7th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded 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 report on Tuesday, May 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $66.50.

Celanese Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of CE traded down $0.84 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $58.43. The stock had a trading volume of 272,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,295,817. 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 $6.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.14. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $55.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.58. Celanese has a 12-month low of $36.29 and a 12-month high of $147.86.

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

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 approximately $807,120.24. The trade was a 10.57% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celanese

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CE. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in Celanese by 100.3% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $942,506,000 after acquiring an additional 6,818,993 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $222,815,000. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 266.7% during 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 buying an additional 2,550,334 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $162,274,000 after buying an additional 2,293,764 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings 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 valued at $202,455,000 after buying an additional 2,044,662 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

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.