World Investment Advisors Invests $1.19 Million in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

World Investment Advisors bought a new position in shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 47,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,185,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gates Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Element Solutions by 101.9% in the 1st quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,424,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,653,000 after acquiring an additional 2,738,250 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 worth $77,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,965,691 shares in the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP raised its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 61.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 4,656,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,777,265 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 131.0% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,861,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of Element Solutions during the second quarter worth about $28,031,000. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Fermium Researc upgraded shares of Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. CJS Securities upgraded Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Element Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.75.

Insider Transactions at Element Solutions

In other news, Director Ian G. H. Ashken sold 292,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total value of $7,884,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 306,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,285,760. This represents a 48.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Matthew Liebowitz sold 37,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total transaction of $984,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 117,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,122,653.80. The trade was a 23.96% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 6.90% of the company’s stock.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Element Solutions stock opened at $25.77 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 4.05, a quick ratio of 3.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $26.04 and its 200-day moving average is $25.13. Element Solutions Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.77 and a 12 month high of $27.97. The company has a market capitalization of $6.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.03, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.33.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $656.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $645.13 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.01% and a net margin of 9.58%.Element Solutions’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were issued 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 Monday, December 1st. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.32%.

Element Solutions 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.