Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $30.83.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ESI shares. Seaport Res Ptn raised Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ESI. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in Element Solutions by 26.4% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 25,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $661,000 after purchasing an additional 5,431 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Element Solutions by 98.8% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 949 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont acquired a new stake in Element Solutions during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in Element Solutions by 79.0% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 60,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,541,000 after acquiring an additional 26,753 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Element Solutions during the 4th quarter worth about $1,947,000. 92.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESI opened at $25.96 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.39, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.30. Element Solutions has a one year low of $21.42 and a one year high of $29.78. The company’s fifty day moving average is $26.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.52.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $645.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $626.52 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.42% and a net margin of 11.08%. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. Analysts forecast that Element Solutions will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.83%.

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.