BMO Capital Markets Reiterates Market Perform Rating for Celanese (NYSE:CE)

Celanese (NYSE:CE)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating restated by analysts at BMO Capital Markets in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $158.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 8.63% from the company’s previous close.

CE has been the subject of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com raised Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. cut Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $140.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on Celanese from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $161.41.

Celanese Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of CE stock traded up $0.51 on Tuesday, hitting $145.45. The stock had a trading volume of 151,517 shares, compared to its average volume of 684,174. Celanese has a 1 year low of $105.15 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $156.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $152.76.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.17. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.00% and a net margin of 18.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 11.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other Celanese news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $156.69 per share, with a total value of $219,366.00. Following the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,934,933.87. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $156.69 per share, for a total transaction of $219,366.00. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at $8,934,933.87. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total value of $313,700.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 76,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Celanese

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Celanese by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 310,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,196,000 after buying an additional 35,898 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 30.9% during the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 155,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $24,168,000 after purchasing an additional 36,701 shares during the period. Comerica Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 3rd quarter worth about $7,879,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 37.8% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 25,165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,910,000 after purchasing an additional 6,901 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Whale Capital LLP grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Whale Capital LLP now owns 66,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,254,000 after purchasing an additional 22,000 shares during the period. 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.