Celanese (NYSE:CE) Updates Q4 Earnings Guidance

Celanese (NYSE:CE) issued an update on its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Monday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $1.25 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $2.93. Celanese also updated its Q4 2024 guidance to 1.250-1.250 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $167.00 to $163.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.44.

Celanese Stock Down 1.0 %

Celanese stock traded down $1.31 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $123.50. 1,284,457 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 774,746. Celanese has a one year low of $114.05 and a one year high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $13.49 billion, a PE ratio of 7.06, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $129.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $138.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Celanese will post 10.24 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.