Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Purchases 651,251 Shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 31.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,753,606 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 651,251 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 1.14% of Element Solutions worth $62,259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Element Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $423,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Element Solutions in the fourth quarter worth about $13,573,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 period. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 12,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 430 shares during the period. 92.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Element Solutions Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:ESI opened at $24.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 3.95 and a quick ratio of 3.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.99 billion, a PE ratio of 20.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.29. Element Solutions Inc. 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 Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $593.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $576.73 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.42% and a net margin of 11.56%. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.34 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc. 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, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ESI. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays decreased their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Truist Financial raised shares of Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.13.

Element Solutions Company 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.