Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New $2.69 Million Investment in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 56,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in Element Solutions by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,524,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,077,000 after purchasing an additional 174,228 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 45.2% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 189,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,767,000 after purchasing an additional 59,154 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 36.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,977,958 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,667,000 after buying an additional 798,923 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,405,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,097,000 after buying an additional 123,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in shares of Element Solutions by 2,818.0% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 68,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,340,000 after buying an additional 66,194 shares in the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

ESI stock opened at $34.93 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.91, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market cap of $8.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.26. Element Solutions Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.86 and a 12-month high of $49.25. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.32.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $977.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $873.19 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.88% and a net margin of 5.67%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 56.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.81 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ESI shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price objective (down from $54.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Seaport Research Partners reissued a “buy” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $47.00 target price on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.00.

Element Solutions Profile

Element Solutions Inc is a global specialty chemicals company that develops and supplies highly engineered chemistries to performance-driven end markets. The company’s solutions serve customers across the electronics, energy, transportation, consumer and industrial sectors, with a particular emphasis on electronics chemicals, metal plating, and industrial coatings additives.

In the electronics market, Element Solutions provides a range of plating and surface-treatment chemistries used in the manufacture of printed circuit boards, semiconductor devices, and advanced display technologies.