Ethic Inc. Reduces Holdings in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Ethic Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 21.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 48,702 shares of the company's stock after selling 12,985 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $1,238,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,244,795 shares of the company's stock worth $565,685,000 after purchasing an additional 249,280 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its position in Element Solutions by 4.2% in the fourth 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Element Solutions by 0.4% during the 4th 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 during the period. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,174,466 shares of the company's stock worth $80,727,000 after acquiring an additional 325,297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Element Solutions by 80.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,921,021 shares of the company's stock valued at $74,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,301,602 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Element Solutions

In related news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total value of $52,200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 109,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,847,510. This represents a 94.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 7.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $24.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Barclays dropped their target price on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Element Solutions from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $26.38.

Element Solutions Trading Down 0.9%

ESI stock traded down $0.20 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $22.14. The company had a trading volume of 163,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,955,533. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $21.48 and a 200 day moving average of $24.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 3.34 and a quick ratio of 2.77. Element Solutions Inc has a 12 month low of $16.77 and a 12 month high of $29.78. The company has a market capitalization of $5.37 billion, a PE ratio of 21.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.24.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $593.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $576.73 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 9.94%. The business's revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.