Brokerages Set Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Target Price at $30.00

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $30.00.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on Element Solutions from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $29.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 price objective (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Element Solutions stock opened at $18.41 on Friday. Element Solutions has a 52-week low of $16.80 and a 52-week high of $29.78. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $25.04 and its 200 day moving average is $26.11. The company has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.04, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.28.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.35. The firm had revenue of $624.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $598.24 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 14.68%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Element Solutions will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is 31.37%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total value of $52,200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 109,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,847,510. The trade was a 94.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 7.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Element Solutions

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,244,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $565,685,000 after buying an additional 249,280 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 5,209,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,468,000 after purchasing an additional 209,441 shares during the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in Element Solutions by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 5,026,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,825,000 after purchasing an additional 146,570 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Element Solutions by 5.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,319,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,320,000 after purchasing an additional 230,793 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Element Solutions by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,555,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,456,000 after purchasing an additional 14,339 shares in the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Element Solutions

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.