Celanese (NYSE:CE) Downgraded by KeyCorp

KeyCorp cut shares of Celanese (NYSE:CE) from an overweight rating to a sector weight rating in a research report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. KeyCorp also issued estimates for Celanese’s Q3 2024 earnings at $2.71 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $2.71 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $9.89 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $2.86 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $3.07 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $3.18 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.98 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $12.10 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Celanese from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and decreased their price target for the company from $180.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America reduced 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Celanese from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $153.13.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE:CE opened at $134.85 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $128.76 and a 200-day moving average of $142.51. Celanese has a 1 year low of $110.76 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.30.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.17 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 10.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Celanese in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Key Financial Inc raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% during the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese during the second quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.