Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Stake Lessened by First Manhattan CO. LLC.

First Manhattan CO. LLC. trimmed its position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 166,280 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,500 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC. owned approximately 0.07% of Element Solutions worth $4,228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 96.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 108,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,938,000 after buying an additional 52,973 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. raised its position in Element Solutions by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,275,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,427,000 after acquiring an additional 34,274 shares in the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 20.3% during the 4th quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 37,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $963,000 after purchasing an additional 6,402 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Element Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,947,000. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 79.0% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 60,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,541,000 after buying an additional 26,753 shares in the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Element Solutions

In other news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total value of $52,200,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 109,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,847,510. This represents a 94.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 7.90% of the company’s stock.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

ESI opened at $21.17 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.96. The company has a current ratio of 3.34, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $5.13 billion, a PE ratio of 20.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.24. Element Solutions Inc has a 1 year low of $16.77 and a 1 year high of $29.78.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The company had revenue of $593.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $576.73 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is 26.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Element Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays cut their price objective on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Element Solutions from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Element Solutions currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.38.

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.