Celanese (NYSE:CE) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.17 EPS

Celanese (NYSE:CE) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The basic materials company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.17, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 17.92% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The firm’s revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.01 earnings per share. Celanese updated its Q2 2024 guidance to 2.600-3.000 EPS.

Celanese Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of Celanese stock traded down $1.81 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $161.46. 1,481,442 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 699,726. The company has a 50 day moving average of $159.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $147.35. Celanese has a fifty-two week low of $99.33 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market cap of $17.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.37.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on CE. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com raised Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Celanese from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Bank of America downgraded Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $124.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Celanese from $169.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $156.69 per share, with a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $156.43 per share, with a total value of $93,388.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,814,588. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly purchased 1,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $156.69 per share, with a total value of $219,366.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president now owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,934,933.87. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Company Profile

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.