Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 139,751 Shares of Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,256,926 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 139,751 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 3.41% of Element Solutions worth $207,822,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ESI. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC increased its position in Element Solutions by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,722,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,864,000 after acquiring an additional 413,834 shares during the period. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 61.7% during the second quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 4,656,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,777,265 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 3.0% during the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,426,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,414,000 after purchasing an additional 129,590 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 28.0% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,195,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,609,000 after purchasing an additional 916,804 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 16.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,071,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,479,000 after purchasing an additional 562,205 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. CJS Securities raised Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen raised Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Element Solutions from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Element Solutions currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was 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 $5,250,992.64. This represents a 49.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Matthew Liebowitz sold 37,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total value of $984,200.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 117,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,122,653.80. This represents a 23.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 6.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESI opened at $30.77 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.49 billion, a PE ratio of 38.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 3.00, a current ratio of 3.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Element Solutions Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.77 and a twelve month high of $37.74. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.50.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a net margin of 7.48% and a return on equity of 13.79%. The business had revenue of $676.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $632.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is currently 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.