Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Freedom Capital upgraded Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Mizuho raised their target price on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.75.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Shares of ESI opened at $33.95 on Friday. Element Solutions has a 1 year low of $16.77 and a 1 year high of $37.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 3.68 and a quick ratio of 3.00. The company has a market capitalization of $8.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50-day moving average of $32.58 and a 200-day moving average of $28.54.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 period last year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Element Solutions will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd 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, March 2nd. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is 40.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Element Solutions news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 147,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,250,992.64. The trade was a 49.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 6.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Element Solutions

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Element Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Element Solutions by 154.8% in the third 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 period. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new stake in Element Solutions in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Element Solutions in the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Element Solutions in the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 92.32% of the stock is owned by 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.