Celanese (NYSE:CE) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Celanese (NYSE:CE) announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41), Briefing.com reports. Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Celanese updated its Q4 guidance to $1.25 EPS and its Q4 2024 guidance to 1.250-1.250 EPS.

Celanese Trading Down 24.8 %

NYSE CE traded down $30.58 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $92.92. The stock had a trading volume of 7,224,806 shares, compared to its average volume of 805,025. The company has a market capitalization of $10.15 billion, a PE ratio of 5.30, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. Celanese has a twelve month low of $91.83 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $129.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.25.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.94%.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on Celanese from $132.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

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.