Luminus Management LLC Makes New $1.18 Million Investment in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Luminus Management LLC purchased a new position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 46,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,182,000. Element Solutions makes up approximately 1.4% of Luminus Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 23,979 shares of the company’s stock worth $610,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 430 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 66,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,698,000 after acquiring an additional 545 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co. lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 34,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $867,000 after acquiring an additional 576 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in 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 worth $2,502,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on ESI shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Element Solutions from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Truist Financial raised Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.38.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total transaction of $52,200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 109,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,847,510. This trade represents a 94.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 7.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESI opened at $21.17 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $5.13 billion, a PE ratio of 20.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.24. Element Solutions Inc has a fifty-two week low of $16.77 and a fifty-two week high of $29.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.34. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $21.75 and a 200-day moving average of $24.93.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. The company 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 14.68% and a net margin of 9.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue 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. Equities research analysts anticipate that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.