StockNews.com Downgrades Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

ESI has been the subject of several other reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Wolfe Research upgraded Element Solutions from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.00.

Element Solutions Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of ESI stock opened at $27.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.10, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.29. Element Solutions has a twelve month low of $18.82 and a twelve month high of $28.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.52. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.69.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $645.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $626.52 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 11.08% and a return on equity of 14.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Element Solutions will post 1.44 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.83%.

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MQS Management LLC lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 38.6% in the third quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 10,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 2,945 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 1,857,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,173,000 after acquiring an additional 41,309 shares during the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. raised its position in Element Solutions by 2.2% during the third quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 33,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $911,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Resource Council purchased a new position in shares of Element Solutions during the third quarter worth approximately $390,000. Finally, Forte Capital LLC ADV grew its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 38.0% during the third quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 11,970 shares of the company’s stock valued at $325,000 after buying an additional 3,295 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

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.