Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) Price Target Raised to $31.00

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) had its price objective upped by Bank of America from $29.00 to $31.00 in a research note released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. KeyCorp increased their price target on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Element Solutions from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective (up from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.75.

Element Solutions Stock Down 0.9%

ESI opened at $25.40 on Tuesday. Element Solutions has a 1-year low of $16.77 and a 1-year high of $29.78. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.12. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 3.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a PE ratio of 25.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.31.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last posted 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. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.14% and a net margin of 9.66%.The business had revenue of $625.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $587.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Element Solutions will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Element Solutions

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

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ESI. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Element Solutions in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Element Solutions by 154.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Element Solutions by 710.1% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,288 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 1,129 shares in the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Element Solutions in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Element Solutions in the first quarter valued at about $37,000. 92.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.