Element Solutions Inc. $ESI Shares Bought by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 221.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 350,196 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 241,266 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $8,751,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in Element Solutions by 154.8% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Element Solutions during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Community Bank N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Element Solutions during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Element Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Element Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at $47,000. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESI has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Mizuho raised their target price on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. CJS Securities upgraded Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Bank of America increased their price target on Element Solutions from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $35.75.

Insider Activity at Element Solutions

In other news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.52, for a total value of $5,099,393.28. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 147,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,250,992.64. This trade represents a 49.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 6.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

NYSE ESI opened at $33.35 on Friday. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.20. The company has a market cap of $8.12 billion, a PE ratio of 42.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. Element Solutions Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.77 and a 1-year high of $37.74.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 13.79% and a net margin of 7.48%.The firm had revenue of $676.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $632.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.51%.

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.