Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) Sets New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $33.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Element Solutions traded as high as $29.76 and last traded at $29.73, with a volume of 158699 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $29.26.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on ESI. Bank of America raised their target price on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. BMO Capital Markets lowered Element Solutions from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, CJS Securities raised shares of Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Element Solutions has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Element Solutions during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Element Solutions by 154.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Element Solutions by 710.1% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,288 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,129 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in Element Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, American National Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Element Solutions in the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Element Solutions Stock Down 1.0%

The company has a current ratio of 4.05, a quick ratio of 3.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.78. The company has a market cap of $7.01 billion, a PE ratio of 29.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.28.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.02. The business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 1st. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

About Element Solutions

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.