LRI Investments LLC Boosts Holdings in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

LRI Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 71.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,887 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,203 shares during the quarter. LRI Investments LLC’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $65,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 479.7% in the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 67,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,528,000 after buying an additional 55,933 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 48.5% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,716,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,805,000 after buying an additional 560,346 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 13.3% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 28,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $638,000 after buying an additional 3,302 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Element Solutions in the first quarter valued at approximately $623,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 110.0% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 59,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,336,000 after buying an additional 30,953 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Element Solutions

In other news, EVP Carey J. Dorman sold 40,725 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total transaction of $1,085,728.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 214,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,727,554.42. The trade was a 15.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John Edward Capps sold 77,674 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.77, for a total transaction of $2,079,332.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 609,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,324,078.30. The trade was a 11.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 168,399 shares of company stock valued at $4,492,561. Corporate insiders own 6.90% of the company’s stock.

Element Solutions Trading Up 4.8%

Shares of ESI stock opened at $25.10 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Element Solutions Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.77 and a fifty-two week high of $29.78. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $25.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.07.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $625.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $587.45 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 14.14%. Element Solutions’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.36 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is 32.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $27.00 target price (up from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Fermium Researc upgraded shares of Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.88.

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.