Short Interest in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Increases By 164.3%

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,190,000 shares, a growth of 164.3% from the March 15th total of 2,720,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,060,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days. Currently, 3.2% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Transactions at Element Solutions

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

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 23,979 shares of the company’s stock worth $610,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 11,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in Element Solutions by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 66,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co. raised its stake in Element Solutions by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 34,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $867,000 after acquiring an additional 576 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in Element Solutions by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 98,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,502,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the period. 92.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ESI. Bank of America raised shares of Element Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial raised Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Element Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.88.

Element Solutions Price Performance

NYSE:ESI traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $18.73. 2,760,994 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,823,194. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.34. The company has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a PE ratio of 18.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.05 and its 200 day simple moving average 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, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35. The firm 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Element Solutions will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.37%.

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.