Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $38.49 and last traded at $38.20, with a volume of 2481978 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $38.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ESI. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $37.00 target price on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Freedom Capital raised shares of Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.75.

Element Solutions Trading Down 0.7%

The stock has a market cap of $9.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.19, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 3.00, a current ratio of 3.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.14.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $676.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $632.40 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 7.48% and a return on equity of 13.79%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Element Solutions news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.52, for a total value of $5,099,393.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 147,832 shares in the company, valued at $5,250,992.64. This trade represents a 49.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 6.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ESI. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,069,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,660,000 after buying an additional 2,146,512 shares during the last quarter. Scopus Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 134.6% during the 2nd quarter. Scopus Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,426,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,602,000 after buying an additional 1,965,691 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake 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 worth $59,146,000 after buying an additional 1,684,994 shares during the last quarter. Jain Global LLC lifted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 253.3% during the 4th quarter. Jain Global LLC now owns 2,127,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,161,000 after buying an additional 1,525,195 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 4,492.3% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,545,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,611,000 after buying an additional 1,511,430 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Element Solutions Company 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.