Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Stake Raised by Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) by 61.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 162,075 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 61,775 shares during the period. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. owned 0.07% of Element Solutions worth $4,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ESI. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Element Solutions by 96.0% during the 3rd 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Element Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,947,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in Element Solutions by 79.0% during the 4th 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 during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont acquired a new position in Element Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Element Solutions by 98.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 949 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Element Solutions

In other news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 109,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,847,510. This trade represents a 94.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 7.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on ESI shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. KeyCorp lowered 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, April 14th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of 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, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.38.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Element Solutions stock opened at $22.11 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.84. The company has a market cap of $5.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.24. 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 Inc has a fifty-two week low of $16.77 and a fifty-two week high of $29.78.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $593.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $576.73 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

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.