Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Has $58.88 Million Stock Position in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Key Points

• Clark Capital Management Group Inc. increased its stake in Element Solutions Inc. by 0.4%, owning a total of 2,604,072 shares valued at approximately $58.88 million.
• Element Solutions reported $0.37 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a revenue of $625.20 million marking a 2% year-over-year increase.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08, representing an annual yield of 1.3%, with the ex-dividend date set for September 2nd.

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. grew its position in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 0.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,604,072 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,829 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. owned 1.07% of Element Solutions worth $58,878,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 12.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,932,851 shares of the company's stock valued at $563,732,000 after acquiring an additional 2,688,056 shares during the last quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Element Solutions by 101.9% in the 1st quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,424,745 shares of the company's stock worth $122,653,000 after purchasing an additional 2,738,250 shares during the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC raised its position in Element Solutions by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 5,026,543 shares of the company's stock worth $127,825,000 after purchasing an additional 146,570 shares during the last quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC raised its position in Element Solutions by 15.9% in the 1st quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,680,449 shares of the company's stock worth $83,215,000 after purchasing an additional 505,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Element Solutions by 131.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,861,197 shares of the company's stock worth $64,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622,819 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. 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 report on Friday, August 1st. Mizuho boosted their price objective 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 restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $27.00 price objective (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $27.38.

Element Solutions Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of Element Solutions stock traded down $0.44 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $25.84. 397,324 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,516,300. The company has a 50 day moving average of $24.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.98. 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 current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 3.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market cap of $6.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.31.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 EPS 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 company had revenue of $625.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $587.45 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

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