Quarry LP Grows Stake in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Key Points

• Quarry LP significantly increased its stake in Element Solutions Inc. by 134.5%, acquiring a total of 18,276 shares valued at approximately $413,000.
• Element Solutions reported a 2.0% year-over-year increase in quarterly revenue, reaching $625.20 million, and exceeded earnings estimates with an EPS of $0.37.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 1.2%, with a payout ratio of 32.00%.

Quarry LP boosted its position in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 134.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,276 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 10,484 shares during the period. Quarry LP's holdings in Element Solutions were worth $413,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ESI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 12.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,932,851 shares of the company's stock worth $563,732,000 after purchasing an additional 2,688,056 shares during the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia bought a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,800,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 1,431.1% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,143,869 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,863,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069,160 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the first quarter valued at approximately $20,041,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the first quarter valued at approximately $15,976,000. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Element Solutions Stock Up 2.2%

ESI stock traded up $0.55 during trading on Thursday, hitting $25.68. 4,540,948 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,527,520. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.68, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.04. The company has a quick ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Element Solutions Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.77 and a 1 year high of $29.78.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $625.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.45 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 14.14%. Element Solutions's revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.36 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ESI. 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 research note on Friday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $27.00 price target (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. 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 research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, 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 research note on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $27.38.

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.