Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE: ESI) has received a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from 11 research firms, with the average 12-month target price set at $27.37.
• The company recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.37, exceeding analyst estimates of $0.36, along with a revenue of $625.20 million.
• Element Solutions announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, reflecting a 1.3% yield and a payout ratio of 32.00%.

Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Buy" from the eleven research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $27.3750.

ESI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Fermium Researc raised Element Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Mizuho raised their price objective on Element Solutions from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $27.00 target price (up from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th.

Element Solutions Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:ESI opened at $24.95 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $25.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.06. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 3.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $6.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.95, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.31. Element Solutions has a 12-month low of $16.77 and a 12-month high of $29.78.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $625.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $587.45 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.14% and a net margin of 9.66%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Element Solutions will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Element Solutions's payout ratio is currently 32.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Element Solutions

In other Element Solutions news, EVP Matthew Liebowitz sold 50,000 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.55, for a total value of $1,327,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 57,353 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,522,722.15. The trade was a 46.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Carey J. Dorman sold 40,725 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total value of $1,085,728.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 214,837 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,727,554.42. This represents a 15.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 168,399 shares of company stock valued at $4,492,561 in the last three months. 6.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Element Solutions

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 1.2% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 45,210 shares of the company's stock worth $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 0.8% during the second quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 76,026 shares of the company's stock worth $1,722,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 7.1% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 10,319 shares of the company's stock worth $233,000 after purchasing an additional 681 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 0.3% during the second quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 218,152 shares of the company's stock worth $4,941,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 1.0% during the second quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 83,682 shares of the company's stock worth $1,895,000 after purchasing an additional 828 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

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.

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