Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the ten research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $25.75.

Several brokerages have weighed in on ESI. Bank of America upgraded Element Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. New York State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new position in Element Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $87,000. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 221,051 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,621,000 after buying an additional 2,691 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 29,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $743,000 after buying an additional 6,949 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 74,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,900,000 after buying an additional 11,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Element Solutions during the 4th quarter worth $395,000. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Element Solutions Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE ESI opened at $21.35 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 3.95 and a quick ratio of 3.16. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $20.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.23. Element Solutions 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 results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $593.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $576.73 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.42% and a net margin of 11.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Element Solutions will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is 26.89%.

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.