Dark Forest Capital Management LP Boosts Stake in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) by 55.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 72,168 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,842 shares during the quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $1,835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Element Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 610.7% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 971 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont bought a new stake in shares of Element Solutions in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Element Solutions by 98.8% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 949 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays reduced 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. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $28.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Element Solutions

In other news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total value 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 trade represents a 94.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 7.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Element Solutions Stock Up 4.4 %

Shares of Element Solutions stock opened at $18.80 on Wednesday. Element Solutions Inc has a 1 year low of $16.77 and a 1 year high of $29.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 3.34 and a quick ratio of 2.77. The stock has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.43, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $23.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.40.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during 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 expect that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is currently 31.37%.

Element Solutions 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.