Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. Mizuho upped their target price on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Element Solutions currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $35.75.

Element Solutions Stock Down 2.4%

Element Solutions stock opened at $31.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 3.00 and a current ratio of 3.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.24. Element Solutions has a fifty-two week low of $16.77 and a fifty-two week high of $37.74. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $31.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.91.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $676.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Element Solutions will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.52, for a total value of $5,099,393.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 147,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,250,992.64. The trade was a 49.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 6.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Element Solutions

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Element Solutions by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,119,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,889,000 after buying an additional 1,298,273 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,485,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,053,000 after acquiring an additional 228,416 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,161,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,968,000 after acquiring an additional 83,033 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,069,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,660,000 after acquiring an additional 2,146,512 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,089,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,183,000 after acquiring an additional 621,448 shares during the period. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.