Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 24,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $549,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 23,979 shares of the company’s stock valued at $610,000 after buying an additional 423 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised 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 valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 66,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,698,000 after buying an additional 545 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 98,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,502,000 after buying an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 684 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ESI. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Element Solutions news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 109,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,847,510. The trade was a 94.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 6.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Element Solutions Stock Down 1.3%

NYSE ESI opened at $21.76 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $20.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.33, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.23. Element Solutions Inc has a 52 week low of $16.77 and a 52 week high of $29.78.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $593.70 million during 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%. Element Solutions’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.34 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is 26.89%.

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.