Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Decreases Stock Holdings in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC decreased its position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) by 27.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 454,584 shares of the company’s stock after selling 169,916 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned approximately 0.19% of Element Solutions worth $10,519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Element Solutions by 47.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,403,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,362,000 after buying an additional 1,412,706 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Element Solutions by 4.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,719,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $445,523,000 after acquiring an additional 1,035,756 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Element Solutions by 4.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,232,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $377,154,000 after acquiring an additional 798,662 shares in the last quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Element Solutions during the third quarter worth about $11,872,000. Finally, Albar Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Element Solutions during the third quarter worth about $7,812,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Element Solutions

In other Element Solutions news, EVP Michael Goralski sold 1,169 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total transaction of $27,120.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 146,297 shares in the company, valued at $3,394,090.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Element Solutions news, CFO Carey J. Dorman sold 1,410 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total transaction of $32,712.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 177,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,109,021.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael Goralski sold 1,169 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total transaction of $27,120.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 146,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,394,090.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 97,203 shares of company stock worth $2,255,110 over the last 90 days. 7.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ESI. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. TheStreet raised shares of Element Solutions from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.60.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESI traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $23.84. The stock had a trading volume of 128,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,295,063. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 2.43 and a current ratio of 3.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $24.15 and a 200-day moving average of $22.15. Element Solutions Inc has a 12-month low of $17.08 and a 12-month high of $25.81. The company has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.32.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. Element Solutions had a net margin of 5.06% and a return on equity of 13.51%. The firm had revenue of $573.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $590.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. Element Solutions’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.31%.

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.