Celanese (NYSE:CE) Releases Q2 2024 Earnings Guidance

Celanese (NYSE:CE) issued an update on its second quarter 2024 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 2.600-3.000 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 2.920. The company issued revenue guidance of -.

Celanese Price Performance

CE traded up $0.54 on Wednesday, reaching $163.27. 740,733 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 690,940. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $159.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $147.23. Celanese has a twelve month low of $99.33 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The stock has a market cap of $17.78 billion, a PE ratio of 9.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.37.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by ($0.05). Celanese had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 17.92%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.59 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Celanese will post 11.35 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. Celanese’s payout ratio is 15.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America cut shares of Celanese from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and lifted their price target for the company from $124.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. StockNews.com raised Celanese from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an underweight rating and issued a $160.00 price objective (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Celanese in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays cut Celanese from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $170.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $149.56.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 597 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $156.43 per share, for a total transaction of $93,388.71. Following the completion of the purchase, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,600 shares in the company, valued at $1,814,588. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total value of $313,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 76,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 597 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $156.43 per share, for a total transaction of $93,388.71. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,814,588. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% 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.