Element Solutions Inc. $ESI Shares Bought by Equitable Trust Co.

Key Points

• Equitable Trust Co. increased its holdings in Element Solutions Inc. by 60.1% in the 2nd quarter, acquiring a total of 54,895 shares valued at approximately $1.24 million.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Element Solutions, with UBS Group setting a new target of $32.00 and Goldman Sachs adjusting theirs to $27.00, reflecting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Insider transactions included a significant sale, with EVP Carey J. Dorman disposing of 40,725 shares valued at over $1 million as part of a total sale of 168,399 shares in the last 90 days.

Equitable Trust Co. increased its holdings in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 60.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,895 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 20,610 shares during the quarter. Equitable Trust Co.'s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $1,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Element Solutions in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Element Solutions in the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Element Solutions by 462.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,160 shares of the company's stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 1,776 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its position in Element Solutions by 940.6% in the 1st quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 2,279 shares of the company's stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 2,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC boosted its position in Element Solutions by 71.4% in the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,887 shares of the company's stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on ESI shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. 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 report on Tuesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Fermium Researc raised Element Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Element Solutions from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $28.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Carey J. Dorman sold 40,725 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total transaction of $1,085,728.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 214,837 shares in the company, valued at $5,727,554.42. The trade was a 15.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Matthew Liebowitz sold 50,000 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.55, for a total value of $1,327,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 57,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,522,722.15. This trade represents a 46.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 168,399 shares of company stock worth $4,492,561 over the last 90 days. 6.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of Element Solutions stock opened at $25.31 on Wednesday. Element Solutions Inc. has a one year low of $16.77 and a one year high of $29.78. The company has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a PE ratio of 25.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 3.30 and a current ratio of 4.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.09.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last announced 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 return on equity of 14.14% and a net margin of 9.66%.The business had revenue of $625.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $587.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.36 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Element Solutions's payout ratio is presently 32.00%.

Element Solutions Company 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.

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