Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Sunday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on ESI. Truist Financial increased their target price on Element Solutions from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Bank of America increased their target price on Element Solutions from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Element Solutions from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Element Solutions presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $35.75.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Shares of ESI stock opened at $37.95 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $33.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.93. 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 has a 12 month low of $17.77 and a 12 month high of $38.05. The company has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.23.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 13.79% and a net margin of 7.48%.The company had revenue of $676.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $632.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Element Solutions will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was 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 directly owned 147,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,250,992.64. This trade represents a 49.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Element Solutions

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ESI. Invesco Ltd. increased 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 purchasing an additional 2,146,512 shares in the last quarter. Scopus Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Element Solutions by 134.6% during the 2nd quarter. Scopus Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,426,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,965,691 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in Element Solutions by 253.4% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,349,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,146,000 after purchasing an additional 1,684,994 shares in the last quarter. Jain Global LLC increased its holdings in Element Solutions by 253.3% during the 4th quarter. Jain Global LLC now owns 2,127,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Element Solutions by 4,492.3% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,545,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511,430 shares in the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.