Short Interest in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) Declines By 37.4%

Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 9,353,928 shares, a decrease of 37.4% from the June 30th total of 14,942,159 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 8,608,646 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.1 days. Currently, 4.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ESI shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Element Solutions to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research set a $47.00 price target on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial upped their price target on Element Solutions from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price objective (down from $54.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.50.

Element Solutions Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of NYSE:ESI traded up $0.87 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $35.66. The stock had a trading volume of 4,579,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,642,727. The company’s 50 day moving average is $41.82 and its 200-day moving average is $37.14. Element Solutions has a 12-month low of $22.63 and a 12-month high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.91. The company has a market cap of $8.69 billion, a PE ratio of 48.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.23.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.04. Element Solutions had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 14.88%. The firm had revenue of $977.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $873.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 56.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Element Solutions will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.61%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Element Solutions

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,119,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,889,000 after purchasing an additional 1,298,273 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Element Solutions by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,485,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,053,000 after purchasing an additional 228,416 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Element Solutions by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,161,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,968,000 after purchasing an additional 83,033 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Element Solutions by 43.6% in 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 during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its stake in Element Solutions by 13.9% in 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

About Element Solutions

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.