Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) Receives $35.75 Consensus PT from Analysts

Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $35.75.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Bank of America raised their price target on Element Solutions from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Element Solutions from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. CJS Securities raised shares of Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st.

Element Solutions Stock Up 7.2%

NYSE ESI opened at $33.26 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.68, a quick ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $8.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.10, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $31.57 and a 200-day moving average of $28.00. Element Solutions has a 1-year low of $16.77 and a 1-year high of $37.74.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 13.79% and a net margin of 7.48%.The business had revenue of $676.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $632.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Element Solutions will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is 40.51%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 147,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,250,992.64. This trade represents a 49.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 6.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Element Solutions

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 43.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,069,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,660,000 after purchasing an additional 2,146,512 shares in the last quarter. Scopus Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 134.6% during the 2nd quarter. Scopus Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,426,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,602,000 after buying an additional 1,965,691 shares in the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP raised its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 61.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 4,656,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,465,000 after buying an additional 1,777,265 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 253.4% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,349,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,146,000 after buying an additional 1,684,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jain Global LLC lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 253.3% during the 4th quarter. Jain Global LLC now owns 2,127,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,161,000 after buying an additional 1,525,195 shares during the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.