D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Boosts Position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 1,611.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 330,987 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 311,649 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of Element Solutions worth $8,417,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ESI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,244,795 shares of the company's stock valued at $565,685,000 after purchasing an additional 249,280 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Element Solutions by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 5,209,130 shares of the company's stock worth $132,468,000 after purchasing an additional 209,441 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Element Solutions by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,555,852 shares of the company's stock worth $90,456,000 after buying an additional 14,339 shares in the last quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,174,466 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,727,000 after purchasing an additional 325,297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Element Solutions by 80.4% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,921,021 shares of the company's stock worth $74,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,301,602 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Element Solutions from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $24.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. StockNews.com downgraded Element Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $24.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded Element Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their target price for the company from $28.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $26.38.

Insider Transactions at Element Solutions

In related 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 transaction of $52,200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 109,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,847,510. This represents a 94.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 7.90% of the company's stock.

Element Solutions Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of Element Solutions stock traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $22.44. The company had a trading volume of 1,626,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,961,303. Element Solutions Inc has a 52-week low of $16.77 and a 52-week high of $29.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $21.48 and a 200 day moving average of $24.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.24.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 9.94%. The firm had revenue of $593.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $576.73 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Company Profile

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.