Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) Director Ian Ashken Sells 292,000 Shares

Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) Director Ian Ashken sold 292,000 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total transaction of $7,884,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 306,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,285,760. This trade represents a 48.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Shares of ESI opened at $27.67 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $26.04 and its 200-day moving average is $23.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 4.05 and a quick ratio of 3.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.70 billion, a PE ratio of 27.95, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.36. Element Solutions Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.77 and a fifty-two week high of $29.78.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $656.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $645.13 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.58% and a return on equity of 14.01%. Element Solutions’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Fermium Researc upgraded Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Element Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 price target (up from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.88.

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ESI. Gates Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Element Solutions by 101.9% during the first quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,424,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,653,000 after purchasing an additional 2,738,250 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Element Solutions by 12.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,932,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $563,732,000 after acquiring an additional 2,688,056 shares in the last quarter. Scopus Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 134.6% in the second quarter. Scopus Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,426,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,965,691 shares during the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP boosted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 61.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 4,656,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,777,265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 253.4% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,349,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,146,000 after purchasing an additional 1,684,994 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

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.