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

Key Points

• Wells Fargo & Company has reduced its price target for Celanese (NYSE:CE) from $72.00 to $60.00, while maintaining an "overweight" rating, indicating a potential upside of 45.45%.
• Celanese reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.44, exceeding analyst expectations, but the company's revenue has decreased by 4.5% year-over-year.
• Despite a mixed outlook from various analysts, Celanese currently holds an average rating of "Hold" with an average target price of $63.56.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) had its target price decreased by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $60.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the basic materials company's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price target would suggest a potential upside of 41.04% from the stock's previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Celanese from $67.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Celanese from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Celanese from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $59.94.

Celanese Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of CE traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $42.54. The stock had a trading volume of 1,772,997 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,658,702. Celanese has a 12 month low of $36.29 and a 12 month high of $142.54. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.64. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. The company has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.10.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.06. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 10.48% and a negative net margin of 16.30%. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.38 EPS. The business's revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict 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 acquired 1,479 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was bought 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 owned 15,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Celanese in the 1st quarter worth approximately $292,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in Celanese in the 1st quarter worth approximately $907,000. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in Celanese by 127.0% in the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 622 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its position in Celanese by 55.1% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 33,508 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,902,000 after buying an additional 11,905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Celanese by 20.8% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 42,225 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,397,000 after buying an additional 7,275 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.