Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Short Interest Update

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,650,000 shares, a drop of 9.8% from the September 30th total of 1,830,000 shares. Currently, 0.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,280,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ESI shares. StockNews.com cut Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Element Solutions from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Element Solutions currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.00.

Element Solutions Price Performance

NYSE ESI traded up $0.16 on Friday, hitting $27.26. The stock had a trading volume of 418,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,378,654. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $26.05 and a 200-day moving average of $25.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 3.52. Element Solutions has a 52-week low of $18.19 and a 52-week high of $28.68. The company has a market capitalization of $6.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.29.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.42% and a net margin of 11.08%. The company had revenue of $645.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $626.52 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Element Solutions will post 1.43 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is 28.83%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Element Solutions by 149.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,934,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,698,000 after buying an additional 2,355,554 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors bought a new position in Element Solutions in the first quarter valued at $44,527,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Element Solutions during the second quarter valued at about $32,364,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in Element Solutions by 14.7% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,289,741 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,458,000 after purchasing an additional 676,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 43.5% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,134,112 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,757,000 after purchasing an additional 344,017 shares during the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.