Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Element Solutions from "hold" to "buy", joining other firms that raised ratings or price targets and leaving a consensus analyst rating of "Buy" with a $35.75 price target.
• Q2 results beat estimates with EPS of $0.37 versus $0.36 and revenue of $676.2M versus $632.4M, marking 8.3% year‑over‑year revenue growth and analysts projecting about 1.45 EPS for the fiscal year.
• A director sold 143,564 shares for roughly $5.10M (cutting their stake by 49.3%); insiders own 6.2% while institutional investors hold about 92.3% of the stock, which is trading near its 12‑month high (~$39).

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Freedom Capital upgraded Element Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. KeyCorp increased their target price on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group increased their target price on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Element Solutions from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $35.75.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Shares of ESI opened at $39.05 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $9.51 billion, a PE ratio of 49.43, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.23. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $34.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 3.00 and a current ratio of 3.68. Element Solutions has a twelve month low of $17.77 and a twelve month high of $39.60.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Element Solutions

In related news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.52, for a total value of $5,099,393.28. Following the sale, the director owned 147,832 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,250,992.64. The trade was a 49.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ESI. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 339.3% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,622 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,098,000 after purchasing an additional 344,950 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 60.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,894,061 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,825,000 after purchasing an additional 712,466 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 872,451 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,726,000 after purchasing an additional 37,204 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new position in shares of Element Solutions during the first quarter worth about $400,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 258,233.3% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 93,000 shares of the company's stock worth $2,237,000 after buying an additional 92,964 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company's stock.

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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