Vanguard Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 0.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,413,201 shares of the company’s stock after selling 206,874 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Element Solutions worth $639,650,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ESI. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Element Solutions in the second quarter worth $26,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 678 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 1,129 shares during the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 6,693.1% in the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 1,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 1,941 shares during the period. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in shares of Element Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

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 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 directly owned 117,393 shares in the company, valued at $3,122,653.80. This trade represents a 23.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 6.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESI has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Element Solutions presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $35.75.

Element Solutions Price Performance

ESI stock opened at $36.13 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $28.84 and a 200 day moving average of $26.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 3.68 and a quick ratio of 3.00. The company has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.73, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.28. Element Solutions Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.77 and a 1 year high of $36.38.

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

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued 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 is Monday, March 2nd. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is 40.51%.

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.