Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) Upgraded to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. CJS Securities raised Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Element Solutions from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $35.75.

Element Solutions Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Element Solutions stock opened at $34.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $32.49 and a 200 day moving average of $28.48. Element Solutions has a 52-week low of $16.77 and a 52-week high of $37.74. 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 (NYSE:ESI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $676.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $632.40 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Element Solutions will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.51%.

Insider Activity at Element Solutions

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Walnut Level Capital LLC purchased a new position in Element Solutions in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,812,000. Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in Element Solutions by 126.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 115,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,908,000 after acquiring an additional 64,433 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Element Solutions by 1.7% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,256,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,822,000 after acquiring an additional 139,751 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors acquired a new position in Element Solutions during the third quarter worth about $1,185,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $105,609,000 after purchasing an additional 916,804 shares in the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.