Short Interest in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) Increases By 28.3%

Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 12,855,609 shares, a growth of 28.3% from the March 15th total of 10,016,956 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,735,776 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.7 days. Currently, 5.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Element Solutions stock traded up $1.75 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $39.05. The stock had a trading volume of 3,051,775 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,628,272. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $34.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.24. The company has a market capitalization of $9.51 billion, a PE ratio of 49.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.23. Element Solutions has a 52-week low of $17.77 and a 52-week high of $39.60. The company has a current ratio of 3.68, a quick ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $676.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $632.40 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 7.48% and a return on equity of 13.79%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Element Solutions will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.51%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESI has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised shares of Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Element Solutions has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.75.

Insider Activity at Element Solutions

In other news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.52, for a total transaction of $5,099,393.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 147,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,250,992.64. This represents a 49.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 6.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Element Solutions

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,119,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,889,000 after buying an additional 1,298,273 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,485,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,053,000 after buying an additional 228,416 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,161,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,968,000 after buying an additional 83,033 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,069,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,660,000 after buying an additional 2,146,512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,089,359 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,183,000 after buying an additional 621,448 shares in the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Element Solutions Company Profile

Element Solutions Inc is a global specialty chemicals company that develops and supplies highly engineered chemistries to performance-driven end markets. The company’s solutions serve customers across the electronics, energy, transportation, consumer and industrial sectors, with a particular emphasis on electronics chemicals, metal plating, and industrial coatings additives.

In the electronics market, Element Solutions provides a range of plating and surface-treatment chemistries used in the manufacture of printed circuit boards, semiconductor devices, and advanced display technologies.