Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) Price Target Raised to $29.00

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) had its price objective hoisted by Mizuho from $27.00 to $29.00 in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on ESI. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $27.00 price target (up from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group raised their price target on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Fermium Researc upgraded Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Element Solutions has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.63.

Element Solutions Stock Up 1.5%

NYSE:ESI opened at $26.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 3.30 and a current ratio of 4.10. The company has a market cap of $6.50 billion, a PE ratio of 26.91, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.31. Element Solutions has a 52-week low of $16.77 and a 52-week high of $29.78. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.06.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $625.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $587.45 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.14% and a net margin of 9.66%.The business’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Element Solutions will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Carey J. Dorman sold 40,725 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total value of $1,085,728.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 214,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,727,554.42. This trade represents a 15.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Matthew Liebowitz sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.55, for a total value of $1,327,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 57,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,522,722.15. The trade was a 46.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 168,399 shares of company stock valued at $4,492,561 over the last three months. Insiders own 6.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESI. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 28,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $716,000 after purchasing an additional 5,966 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 2,339.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 37,420 shares of the company’s stock worth $846,000 after purchasing an additional 35,886 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 129.0% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 506,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,443,000 after purchasing an additional 285,053 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Element Solutions during the 1st quarter worth approximately $585,000. Finally, Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 188,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,271,000 after purchasing an additional 15,358 shares during the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.