Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $25.60.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ESI. TheStreet upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Element Solutions from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Element Solutions from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on Element Solutions from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st.

Element Solutions Price Performance

ESI stock opened at $23.82 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $24.19 and a 200-day moving average of $22.19. Element Solutions has a 12-month low of $17.08 and a 12-month high of $25.81. The company has a current ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 2.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.60, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.32.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. Element Solutions had a net margin of 5.06% and a return on equity of 13.51%. The company had revenue of $573.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $590.43 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Element Solutions will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is currently 65.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Element Solutions news, CEO Benjamin Gliklich sold 6,579 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total value of $152,632.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 726,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,852,456.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Michael Goralski sold 1,169 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total transaction of $27,120.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 146,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,394,090.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Benjamin Gliklich sold 6,579 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total transaction of $152,632.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 726,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,852,456.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 97,203 shares of company stock valued at $2,255,110. Company insiders own 7.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,719,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $445,523,000 after acquiring an additional 1,035,756 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,232,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $377,154,000 after acquiring an additional 798,662 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,790,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,676,000 after acquiring an additional 106,800 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 47.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,403,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,362,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412,706 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glenview Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 35.2% during the 4th quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC now owns 3,762,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,067,000 after acquiring an additional 979,798 shares in the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Element Solutions Company Profile

Element Solutions Inc operates as a specialty chemicals company in the United States, China, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Electronics, and Industrial & Specialty. The Electronics segment researches, formulates, and sells specialty chemicals and materials for various types of electronics hardware products.