Celanese (NYSE:CE) Downgraded by Wells Fargo & Company to “Equal Weight”

Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note published on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $115.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $165.00.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on CE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $167.00 to $163.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. KeyCorp lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Vertical Research lowered Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.00.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $91.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.28. Celanese has a 52 week low of $90.51 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The firm has a market cap of $9.94 billion, a PE ratio of 5.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $128.78 and its 200-day moving average is $137.81.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Celanese will post 10.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. Celanese’s payout ratio is 15.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at $9,033,840.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CE. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Celanese by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,899,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,560,608,000 after purchasing an additional 90,206 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 0.3% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,158,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,058,447,000 after acquiring an additional 21,085 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Celanese by 14.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $156,663,000 after acquiring an additional 150,201 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Celanese by 0.8% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,085,522 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $146,426,000 after acquiring an additional 8,700 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in Celanese by 14.1% in the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 378,507 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $51,057,000 after purchasing an additional 46,732 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% 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.