Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Lowers Holdings in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Key Points

• Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. has reduced its stake in Element Solutions Inc. by 36.2%, selling over 500,000 shares and now holding approximately 884,347 shares valued at $19.99 million.
• Other hedge funds are actively altering their positions in Element Solutions, with Park Square Financial Group and SVB Wealth both initiating new stakes in the company, highlighting a growing institutional interest in 92.32% of the stock.
• Element Solutions recently reported $0.37 EPS for its latest quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08 to be paid on September 15th with a yield of 1.2%.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. cut its holdings in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 36.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 884,347 shares of the company's stock after selling 502,552 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned 0.36% of Element Solutions worth $19,995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ESI. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Element Solutions during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in Element Solutions during the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 940.6% during the 1st quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 2,279 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 2,060 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Element Solutions by 311.3% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,126 shares of the company's stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 2,366 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in Element Solutions by 100.5% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,469 shares of the company's stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 1,739 shares during the period. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ESI. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. 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 research report on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Element Solutions currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $27.38.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Element Solutions stock traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $26.25. 2,205,378 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,528,909. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 3.30. Element Solutions Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.77 and a fifty-two week high of $29.78. The company has a market capitalization of $6.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.31. The firm's fifty day moving average is $24.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.98.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 14.14%. The firm had revenue of $625.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.00%.

Element Solutions 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.