Cerity Partners LLC Takes $262,000 Position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 11,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ESI. Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 2,825,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,404,000 after acquiring an additional 12,124 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Element Solutions by 0.5% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 240,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,718,000 after buying an additional 1,146 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its position in Element Solutions by 15.1% in the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 727,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,275,000 after buying an additional 95,510 shares during the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. lifted its position in Element Solutions by 4.3% in the third quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,674,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,829,000 after buying an additional 69,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in Element Solutions by 17.6% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 46,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $911,000 after buying an additional 6,943 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Element Solutions Stock Up 0.7 %

ESI stock opened at $23.85 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $24.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 2.43 and a current ratio of 3.24. Element Solutions Inc has a fifty-two week low of $17.08 and a fifty-two week high of $25.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.67, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.32.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. Element Solutions had a net margin of 5.06% and a return on equity of 13.51%. The firm had revenue of $573.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $590.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is 65.31%.

Insider Activity at Element Solutions

In related news, EVP Michael Goralski sold 11,604 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total value of $269,212.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 143,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,327,947.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Michael Goralski sold 11,604 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total value of $269,212.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 143,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,327,947.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Carey J. Dorman sold 1,410 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total value of $32,712.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 177,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,109,021.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 97,203 shares of company stock valued at $2,255,110 over the last three months. 7.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on ESI. StockNews.com cut shares of Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Element Solutions currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.60.

Element Solutions Profile

Element Solutions Inc operates as a specialty chemicals company in the United States, China, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Electronics, and Industrial & Specialty. The Electronics segment researches, formulates, and sells specialty chemicals and materials for various types of electronics hardware products.