Royce & Associates LP Lowers Stock Holdings in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Royce & Associates LP lessened its holdings in shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 0.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,674,989 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,478 shares during the quarter. Element Solutions accounts for approximately 0.7% of Royce & Associates LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $67,329,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ESI. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Element Solutions during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 154.8% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 710.1% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,288 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,129 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Element Solutions during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 6,693.1% in the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 1,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Wall Street Zen raised Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Two research 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 currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Element Solutions

In related news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.52, for a total value of $5,099,393.28. Following the sale, the director 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Matthew Liebowitz sold 37,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 117,393 shares in the company, 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. 6.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of ESI opened at $35.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.39, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 3.00, a current ratio of 3.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The business’s 50 day moving average is $29.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.22. Element Solutions Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.77 and a 52-week high of $37.74.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The business 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 business’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is currently 40.51%.

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.