Caxton Associates LLP Takes $676,000 Position in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Key Points

• Caxton Associates LLP has acquired a stake of 29,880 shares in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI), valued at approximately $676,000, during the first quarter of the year.
• Institutional ownership in Element Solutions is significant, with approximately 92.32% of the stock currently held by institutional investors, including Gates Capital Management, Vanguard Group, and AQR Capital Management.
• Element Solutions reported earnings per share of $0.37 for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' estimates and indicating a year-over-year revenue increase of 2.0%.

Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 29,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $676,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ESI. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 124.7% during the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 119,079 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,028,000 after purchasing an additional 66,076 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 210.3% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 15,899 shares of the company's stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 10,776 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 26,651 shares of the company's stock valued at $678,000 after purchasing an additional 2,111 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 56,240 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,430,000 after purchasing an additional 10,315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 1,611.6% during the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 330,987 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,417,000 after purchasing an additional 311,649 shares during the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ESI. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $27.00 price target (up from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.38.

Element Solutions Trading Down 1.6%

NYSE ESI traded down $0.44 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $26.33. 178,914 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,482,453. The firm has a market cap of $6.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.31. 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 quick ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $24.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.98.

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

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

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

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.