KBC Group NV Sells 3,447 Shares of Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

KBC Group NV cut its stake in shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 33.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,872 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,447 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $156,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gates Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 101.9% during the first quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,424,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,653,000 after purchasing an additional 2,738,250 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,932,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $563,732,000 after buying an additional 2,688,056 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 131.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,861,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,692,000 after buying an additional 1,622,819 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Element Solutions during the 1st quarter worth $20,041,000. Finally, Reinhart Partners LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 77.4% during the second quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,650,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,387,000 after buying an additional 720,365 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 609,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,324,078.30. The trade was a 11.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ian G. H. Ashken sold 292,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total value of $7,884,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 306,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,285,760. This represents a 48.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 460,399 shares of company stock worth $12,376,561 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.90% of the company’s stock.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of Element Solutions stock opened at $24.13 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 4.05, a quick ratio of 3.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market cap of $5.84 billion, a PE ratio of 24.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a 50 day moving average of $26.10 and a 200-day moving average of $24.33. Element Solutions Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.77 and a 1-year high of $29.78.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.02. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.58% and a return on equity of 14.01%. The business had revenue of $656.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $645.13 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on ESI. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Element Solutions from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Element Solutions currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.88.

Element Solutions Company Profile

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.