Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $28.38 and last traded at $28.3180, with a volume of 1552049 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $28.05.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ESI. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. BMO Capital Markets cut Element Solutions from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Element Solutions from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Element Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.88.

Element Solutions Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $26.12 and a 200 day moving average of $25.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 4.05 and a quick ratio of 3.28. The stock has a market cap of $6.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.28.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.58% and a return on equity of 14.01%. The business had revenue of $656.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $645.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Matthew Liebowitz sold 37,000 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total transaction of $984,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 117,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,122,653.80. The trade was a 23.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ian G. H. Ashken sold 292,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total transaction of $7,884,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 306,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,285,760. This represents a 48.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 6.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Element Solutions

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 339.3% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,622 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,098,000 after purchasing an additional 344,950 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Element Solutions by 60.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,894,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,825,000 after buying an additional 712,466 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Element Solutions by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 872,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,726,000 after buying an additional 37,204 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new position in shares of Element Solutions during the first quarter valued at approximately $400,000. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Element Solutions in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,172,000. 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.