Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Shares Sold by Castleark Management LLC

Castleark Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) by 13.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 257,280 shares of the company’s stock after selling 40,240 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $6,543,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ESI. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 96.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 108,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,938,000 after acquiring an additional 52,973 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Element Solutions in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,947,000. Trust Co. of Vermont acquired a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Element Solutions by 98.8% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 26.4% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 25,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $661,000 after buying an additional 5,431 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ESI. StockNews.com lowered Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Element Solutions from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. KeyCorp lowered 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. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Element Solutions 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 completion of the sale, the director now 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 7.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Element Solutions stock opened at $22.17 on Wednesday. Element Solutions Inc has a 52-week low of $16.77 and a 52-week 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 fifty day moving average price of $21.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.24.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $593.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $576.73 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.34 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.