According to a report by Bloomberg.com, shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fifteen ratings firms that currently cover the company. This analysis has been compiled by various research analysts, with two recommending selling the stock, eight suggesting holding it, and five advising buying it. The average 12-month price objective among brokers who have issued ratings on the stock in the past year stands at $126.13.
Looking at recent activity in the market, hedge funds and institutional investors have been active in buying and selling shares of Celanese. For instance, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust saw its position in Celanese grow by 92.6% during the first quarter. Similarly, V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Celanese during the second quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC and Versant Capital Management Inc also acquired new stakes in the first quarter and added to their positions respectively. Finally, Certified Advisory Corp bought a stake in Celanese during the first quarter.
These institutional investors collectively now hold 98.87% of Celanese’s stock.
In terms of dividends, Celanese recently announced a quarterly dividend that was paid on August 14th to shareholders of record as of July 31st. The dividend amounted to $0.70 per share on an annualized basis which represents a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date was on July 28th.
Celanese is known for its specialization in basic materials and continues to attract attention from investors and industry experts alike due to its performance and potential growth prospects.
Sources:
1) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-22/celanese-co-ce-receives-consensus-rating-of-hold-from-analysts
2) Company press release
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Navigating the Uncertainty: Assessing Celanese Corporation’s Mixed Reviews and Financials
Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE) has recently received mixed reviews from research analysts, leading to a perplexing situation for potential investors. On one hand, Vertical Research downgraded Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a price objective of $122.00 on the stock in their report released on June 9th of this year. Shortly after, JPMorgan Chase & Co. followed suit by lowering Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective from $135.00 to $122.00 in a report released on August 9th.
However, StockNews.com took an opposing stance when they assumed coverage on Celanese in their report dated August 17th, issuing a “sell” rating on the stock. This conflicting opinion further adds to the uncertainty surrounding Celanese’s future prospects.
Adding to the confusion, Credit Suisse Group upped their price objective on Celanese from $100.00 to $111.00 but retained an “underperform” rating in their report released on August 8th. On the other hand, Barclays was more optimistic about Celanese’s outlook and raised their price objective from $146.00 to $155.00 while maintaining an “overweight” rating in their report issued on August 11th.
Struggling investors are left wondering what direction they should take with these contradicting assessments.
Turning our attention to the financials, it is worth noting that Celanese opened at $125.34 as of last Friday’s trading session. Over the past year, the company’s share price has fluctuated between a low of $86.71 and a high of $131.05 – demonstrating both volatility and potential opportunity for prudent investors.
Currently, Celanese boasts a fifty-day simple moving average of $123.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $114.13, suggesting a trend of moderate growth in recent months.
The company exhibits a relatively solid financial position, with a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 0.95. However, it is important to consider that Celanese also carries a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, which may raise concerns among some investors.
In terms of market cap, Celanese currently stands at $13.64 billion, making it one of the major players in the industry. Its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio stands at 10.79 – reflecting the current stock price relative to its earnings per share (EPS). Additionally, the price-to-earnings-growth (PEG) ratio for Celanese is at 4.61, indicating potential overvaluation relative to its expected earnings growth rate.
On August 7th, Celanese released its quarterly earnings results, reporting $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter; this missed analysts’ consensus estimates by ($0.29). The basic materials company exhibited a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 17.68%.
The revenue generated during the quarter amounted to $2.80 billion, falling short of consensus estimates which had predicted $2.96 billion in revenue for the period under review. However, it is worth noting that Celanese’s revenue witnessed year-over-year growth of 12.4%.
Despite these mixed results and opinions from research analysts, it is important to remember that forecasters anticipate that Celanese will post earnings per share (EPS) of $9.07 for the current year as a whole.
Investors face an undoubtedly challenging decision when considering whether to invest in Celanese Corporation amidst such perplexing reviews and data points from research analysts.
Please note that all information provided above is accurate as of September 22, 2023.
