Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) Reaches New 12-Month High - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Element Solutions hit a new 52-week high of $37.75 (last $37.57) on heavy volume, giving it a market cap around $9.1 billion and a high P/E of 47.34.
• Company results and analyst stance: Q2 beat estimates (EPS $0.37 vs $0.36; revenue $676.2M vs $632.4M, +8.3% YoY), and analysts carry an average "Buy" rating with an average price target of $35.75, below the current price.
• Ownership and shareholder actions: Element pays a $0.08 quarterly dividend (0.9% yield) while a director recently sold 143,564 shares, and institutional investors own roughly 92.3% of the stock.

Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $37.75 and last traded at $37.57, with a volume of 1072723 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $36.90.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ESI. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Mizuho increased their price target on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "overweight" 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Element Solutions from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Element Solutions currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $35.75.

Element Solutions Trading Up 1.2%

The firm has a market capitalization of $9.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 3.68, a quick ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $32.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.66.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $676.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $632.40 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 13.79% and a net margin of 7.48%.The firm's revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were given 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 currently 40.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Element Solutions news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.52, for a total value of $5,099,393.28. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 147,832 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,250,992.64. The trade was a 49.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 6.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Element Solutions by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,119,999 shares of the company's stock valued at $277,889,000 after purchasing an additional 1,298,273 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Element Solutions by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,485,342 shares of the company's stock valued at $212,053,000 after purchasing an additional 228,416 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Element Solutions by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,161,586 shares of the company's stock valued at $178,968,000 after purchasing an additional 83,033 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Element Solutions by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,069,238 shares of the company's stock valued at $176,660,000 after purchasing an additional 2,146,512 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its position in shares of Element Solutions by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,089,359 shares of the company's stock valued at $127,183,000 after purchasing an additional 621,448 shares during the period. 92.32% of the stock is currently 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.

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