Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

A number of other research firms have also commented on ESI. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price target on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Monday, February 23rd. CJS Securities upgraded Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Element Solutions from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Element Solutions currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.75.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of ESI opened at $31.05 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.91. The firm has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a PE ratio of 39.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.24. Element Solutions has a 12-month low of $16.77 and a 12-month high of $37.74. The company has a current ratio of 3.68, a quick ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $676.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $632.40 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 7.48% and a return on equity of 13.79%. Element Solutions’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Element Solutions will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Element Solutions

In other news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.52, for a total transaction of $5,099,393.28. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 147,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,250,992.64. This represents a 49.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Element Solutions by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,119,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,889,000 after buying an additional 1,298,273 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Element Solutions by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,485,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,053,000 after buying an additional 228,416 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,161,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,968,000 after acquiring an additional 83,033 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,069,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,660,000 after acquiring an additional 2,146,512 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,089,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,183,000 after acquiring an additional 621,448 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

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.