Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America raised their price target on Element Solutions from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.50.

Element Solutions Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of ESI stock opened at $35.45 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.63 billion, a PE ratio of 44.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.28. Element Solutions has a 52-week low of $16.77 and a 52-week high of $36.38. The business’s fifty day moving average is $28.63 and its 200 day moving average is $26.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 3.28 and a current ratio of 3.68.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $632.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Element Solutions will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Element Solutions

In related news, insider Matthew Liebowitz sold 37,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total transaction of $984,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 117,393 shares in the company, valued at $3,122,653.80. This represents a 23.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 6.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESI. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC increased its position in shares of Element Solutions by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 125,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,146,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 0.8% during the third quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 51,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,289,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 27.3% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 6.2% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 7,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

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.