Homestead Advisers Corp Acquires New Stake in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Homestead Advisers Corp bought a new position in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 70,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,790,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Element Solutions by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 25,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $679,000 after buying an additional 1,902 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,299,641 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,458,000 after acquiring an additional 38,859 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 40.4% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 172,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,672,000 after purchasing an additional 49,466 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 52,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,413,000 after buying an additional 1,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of Element Solutions by 81.3% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 24,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $667,000 after purchasing an additional 11,004 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 target price (down from $32.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. They set a “hold” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Element Solutions presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.14.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESI opened at $24.71 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $5.99 billion, a PE ratio of 24.22, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $25.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.33. Element Solutions Inc has a 12-month low of $23.10 and a 12-month high of $29.78.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35. The company had revenue of $624.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $598.24 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 9.94%. Equities research analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is presently 31.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Element Solutions

In related news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total transaction of $52,200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 109,100 shares in the company, valued at $2,847,510. This represents a 94.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 7.90% of the company’s stock.

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.