New York State Common Retirement Fund Grows Stake in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI)

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 12.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 261,062 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,700 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.11% of Element Solutions worth $5,903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. TD Private Client Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Element Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Element Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at about $68,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in Element Solutions by 100.5% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,469 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 1,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 684 shares during the period. 92.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Element Solutions Price Performance

ESI opened at $24.72 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $22.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.25. Element Solutions Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.77 and a 12-month high of $29.78. The firm has a market cap of $5.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.77, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 3.95, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $593.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $576.73 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 14.42%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.34 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is 26.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on ESI shares. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Element Solutions from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Element Solutions from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Bank of America upgraded Element Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Element Solutions presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.13.

About Element Solutions

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.