Mizuho Issues Positive Forecast for Celanese (NYSE:CE) Stock Price

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) had its price objective boosted by stock analysts at Mizuho from $50.00 to $59.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "neutral" rating on the basic materials company's stock. Mizuho's price target indicates a potential upside of 0.23% from the company's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective 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. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $76.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. One equities research 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, Celanese currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $66.50.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CE traded up $1.94 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $58.86. The company had a trading volume of 312,278 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,304,457. Celanese has a 52 week low of $36.29 and a 52 week high of $147.86. The stock has a market cap of $6.44 billion, a PE ratio of -3.85, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.14. 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 business's 50 day moving average price is $55.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.52.

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. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 16.54% and a positive return on equity of 11.28%. Celanese's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Celanese will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 1,479 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the purchase, the senior vice president directly owned 15,468 shares in the company, valued at $807,120.24. The trade was a 10.57% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Sage Rhino Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 4.5% in the second quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 5,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. CX Institutional raised its position in shares of Celanese by 39.4% in the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 2,347 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 663 shares during the period. QSM Asset Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Celanese by 21.4% in the second quarter. QSM Asset Management Ltd now owns 99,275 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $5,518,000 after purchasing an additional 17,525 shares during the period. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the second quarter valued at about $315,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 73.0% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,337 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 2,675 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.