Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) Upgraded by Bank of America to Buy Rating

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) was upgraded by research analysts at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage presently has a $24.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 27.25% from the stock’s previous close.

ESI has been the topic of several other reports. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Element Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial upgraded Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $24.00 in a report on Monday. KeyCorp cut their target price on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Element Solutions has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.88.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

ESI stock opened at $18.86 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a PE ratio of 18.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 3.34, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $24.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.73. Element Solutions has a 1-year low of $16.77 and a 1-year high of $29.78.

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

Insider Transactions at Element Solutions

In related news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total value of $52,200,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 109,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,847,510. This represents a 94.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 7.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ESI. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in Element Solutions by 79.0% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 60,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,541,000 after acquiring an additional 26,753 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Element Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at $423,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,328,894 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,224,000 after buying an additional 29,253 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 74,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,900,000 after buying an additional 11,702 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Element Solutions during the 4th quarter worth $433,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.