Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Grows Position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its position in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 98,398 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $2,502,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Element Solutions by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,244,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $565,685,000 after purchasing an additional 249,280 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 5,209,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,468,000 after buying an additional 209,441 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,555,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,456,000 after buying an additional 14,339 shares in the last quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC grew its position in Element Solutions by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,174,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,727,000 after acquiring an additional 325,297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Element Solutions by 80.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,921,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,301,602 shares in the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Shares of ESI stock opened at $18.94 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.57. Element Solutions Inc has a one year low of $16.77 and a one year high of $29.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 3.34 and a quick ratio of 2.77.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.35. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 9.94%. The company had revenue of $624.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $598.24 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ESI shares. StockNews.com lowered Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Element Solutions from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Element Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Element Solutions has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Element Solutions

In other news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total transaction of $52,200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 109,100 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 7.90% 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.