Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) EVP Matthew Liebowitz Sells 50,000 Shares

Key Points

• Matthew Liebowitz, EVP of Element Solutions, sold 50,000 shares at an average price of $26.55, totaling approximately $1.33 million, resulting in a 46.58% decrease in his ownership stake.
• Element Solutions has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, translating to an annualized yield of 1.2%, and a payout ratio of 32% of earnings.
• Wall Street analysts maintain a positive outlook on Element Solutions, with a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $27.38.

Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) EVP Matthew Liebowitz sold 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.55, for a total value of $1,327,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 57,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,522,722.15. This represents a 46.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Element Solutions Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of ESI stock traded down $0.47 on Friday, hitting $26.52. 6,265,477 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,510,650. Element Solutions Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.77 and a fifty-two week high of $29.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.31. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $24.94 and a 200 day moving average of $23.04.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $625.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.45 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.14% and a net margin of 9.66%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio is 32.00%.

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,932,851 shares of the company's stock valued at $563,732,000 after acquiring an additional 2,688,056 shares during the period. Gates Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Element Solutions by 101.9% in the 1st quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,424,745 shares of the company's stock valued at $122,653,000 after buying an additional 2,738,250 shares during the period. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP increased its stake in Element Solutions by 61.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 4,656,299 shares of the company's stock valued at $105,465,000 after buying an additional 1,777,265 shares during the period. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC increased its stake in Element Solutions by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,308,630 shares of the company's stock valued at $97,590,000 after buying an additional 628,181 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,738,851 shares of the company's stock worth $84,699,000 after purchasing an additional 14,471 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on ESI. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $27.00 price target (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Element Solutions from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Fermium Researc raised Element Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $27.38.

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.

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