Celanese (NYSE:CE) Reaches New 1-Year High at $131.21

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $131.21 and last traded at $131.19, with a volume of 229811 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $129.93.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on CE. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Celanese from $149.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 9th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $120.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 29th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Celanese from $130.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $127.63.

Celanese Stock Up 0.8 %

The company has a market capitalization of $14.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.03, a PEG ratio of 4.61 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $121.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.08.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.30. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 18.93%. The business had revenue of $2.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.94 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, October 30th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 27th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.09%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Celanese by 51.0% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 10,152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,451,000 after buying an additional 3,431 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Celanese by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,627 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $804,000 after buying an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in Celanese by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 14,455 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,065,000 after buying an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Celanese by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 13,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,977,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC grew its holdings in Celanese by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 37,618 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,374,000 after buying an additional 4,265 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.