Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $30.75.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ESI shares. UBS Group upped their target price on Element Solutions from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. CJS Securities upgraded Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Fermium Researc raised shares of Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Element Solutions from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ian G. H. Ashken sold 292,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total transaction of $7,884,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 306,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,285,760. This trade represents a 48.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Matthew Liebowitz sold 37,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total value of $984,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 117,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,122,653.80. The trade was a 23.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 6.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESI. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 1.7% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,256,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,822,000 after purchasing an additional 139,751 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Element Solutions by 68.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,922,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,905,000 after purchasing an additional 2,003,724 shares during the last quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,722,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $118,864,000 after buying an additional 413,834 shares during the period. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP grew its position in shares of Element Solutions by 61.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 4,656,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,465,000 after buying an additional 1,777,265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Element Solutions by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,426,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,414,000 after buying an additional 129,590 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Element Solutions Stock Up 3.8%

ESI stock opened at $25.93 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a PE ratio of 26.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 3.28, a current ratio of 4.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Element Solutions has a 52 week low of $16.77 and a 52 week high of $27.97. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.27.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $656.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $645.13 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.58% and a return on equity of 14.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Element Solutions will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

Element Solutions Company Profile

Element Solutions Inc is a global specialty chemicals company that develops and supplies highly engineered chemistries to performance-driven end markets. The company’s solutions serve customers across the electronics, energy, transportation, consumer and industrial sectors, with a particular emphasis on electronics chemicals, metal plating, and industrial coatings additives.

In the electronics market, Element Solutions provides a range of plating and surface-treatment chemistries used in the manufacture of printed circuit boards, semiconductor devices, and advanced display technologies.