Brokerages Set Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) Price Target at $28.75

Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $28.75.

ESI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price target on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Friday. UBS Group upped their price target on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 price target (up from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st.

Insider Activity at Element Solutions

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 479.7% in the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 67,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 55,933 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Element Solutions by 48.5% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,716,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,805,000 after acquiring an additional 560,346 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Element Solutions by 110.0% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 59,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,336,000 after acquiring an additional 30,953 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Element Solutions by 1,431.1% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,143,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,863,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Element Solutions during the first quarter worth $1,031,000. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Element Solutions Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Element Solutions stock opened at $26.16 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.16, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $25.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.37. Element Solutions has a 12-month low of $16.77 and a 12-month high of $29.78.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.14% and a net margin of 9.66%.The firm had revenue of $625.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $587.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Element Solutions will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid 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 was Tuesday, September 2nd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.00%.

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.