Dark Forest Capital Management LP Has $4.40 Million Stake in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Key Points

• Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its stake in Element Solutions Inc. by 169.5%, owning 194,488 shares, which accounts for approximately 0.08% of the company.
• Wall Street analysts have issued positive ratings for Element Solutions, with a consensus target price of $27.38 and multiple firms upgrading their price targets.
• Element Solutions declared a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, representing a 1.2% dividend yield, payable on September 15th.

Dark Forest Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 169.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 194,488 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 122,320 shares during the quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.08% of Element Solutions worth $4,397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 479.7% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 67,594 shares of the company's stock worth $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 55,933 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Element Solutions by 48.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,716,292 shares of the company's stock worth $38,805,000 after acquiring an additional 560,346 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Element Solutions in the 1st quarter worth $623,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Element Solutions by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 28,196 shares of the company's stock worth $638,000 after acquiring an additional 3,302 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Element Solutions by 110.0% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 59,102 shares of the company's stock worth $1,336,000 after acquiring an additional 30,953 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on ESI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $27.00 target price (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. 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 report on Tuesday, July 15th. 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 report on Friday, August 1st. 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 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $27.38.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Shares of Element Solutions stock traded up $0.47 during trading on Friday, hitting $26.17. 3,079,928 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,519,970. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 3.30. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $24.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.01. Element Solutions Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.77 and a twelve month high of $29.78. The company has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a PE ratio of 26.17, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.31.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The firm 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%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Element Solutions's 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.