BMO Capital Markets Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) Stock Price

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) had its target price decreased by BMO Capital Markets from $34.00 to $30.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Truist Financial raised shares of Element Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $28.00 to $24.00 in a report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Element Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $26.38.

Element Solutions Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of ESI traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $20.14. 842,154 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,922,871. The firm has a market cap of $4.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.20. Element Solutions has a 12-month low of $16.77 and a 12-month high of $29.78. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The business had revenue of $593.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $576.73 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Element Solutions will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Element Solutions's payout ratio is currently 26.89%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total value of $52,200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 109,100 shares in the company, valued at $2,847,510. This trade represents a 94.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 7.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 23,979 shares of the company's stock valued at $610,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 11,297 shares of the company's stock valued at $287,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 66,761 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,698,000 after acquiring an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 34,103 shares of the company's stock valued at $867,000 after acquiring an additional 576 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 98,398 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,502,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Element Solutions

Element Solutions Inc operates as a specialty chemicals company in the United States, China, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Electronics, and Industrial & Specialty. The Electronics segment researches, formulates, and sells specialty chemicals and materials for various types of electronics hardware products.