Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,860,000 shares, an increase of 7.8% from the March 31st total of 3,580,000 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,290,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Insider Activity

In other Element Solutions news, EVP Michael Goralski sold 1,169 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total value of $27,120.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 146,297 shares in the company, valued at $3,394,090.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Michael Goralski sold 1,169 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total value of $27,120.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 146,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,394,090.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Carey J. Dorman sold 1,410 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total transaction of $32,712.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 177,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,109,021.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 97,203 shares of company stock valued at $2,255,110 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 7.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in Element Solutions by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 98,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,922,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in Element Solutions by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 34,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $789,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in Element Solutions by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 15,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 85.6% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Donoghue Forlines LLC grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 16,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $331,000 after acquiring an additional 691 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on ESI shares. TheStreet raised shares of Element Solutions from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Element Solutions in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Element Solutions from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.00.

Element Solutions Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of ESI opened at $23.32 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.35. Element Solutions has a twelve month low of $17.53 and a twelve month high of $25.81. The company has a current ratio of 3.63, a quick ratio of 2.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.32.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. Element Solutions had a net margin of 5.62% and a return on equity of 13.96%. The firm had revenue of $575.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $588.17 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. Element Solutions’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Element Solutions will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is currently 59.26%.

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.