Empowered Funds LLC Invests $1.71 Million in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC acquired 50,033 shares of Element Solutions in the first quarter, representing an investment of approximately $1.71 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.32% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $43.50, although Mizuho cut its target to $45 from $54.
• Element Solutions beat quarterly expectations, reporting $0.47 EPS versus $0.43 expected and revenue of $977.9 million, up 56.4% year over year. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, yielding about 0.8%.

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 50,033 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,708,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESI. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 43.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,069,238 shares of the company's stock worth $176,660,000 after buying an additional 2,146,512 shares in the last quarter. Scopus Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Element Solutions by 134.6% during the second quarter. Scopus Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,426,156 shares of the company's stock worth $77,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,965,691 shares during the last quarter. Jain Global LLC raised its position in Element Solutions by 253.3% during the fourth quarter. Jain Global LLC now owns 2,127,297 shares of the company's stock worth $53,161,000 after acquiring an additional 1,525,195 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 4,492.3% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,545,075 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,119,999 shares of the company's stock valued at $277,889,000 after purchasing an additional 1,298,273 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ESI shares. Seaport Research Partners reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $49.00 price target on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Mizuho reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $45.00 price objective (down from $54.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Element Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $43.50.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

NYSE:ESI opened at $37.94 on Friday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $41.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.52. The company has a current ratio of 2.91, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Element Solutions Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.86 and a twelve month high of $49.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.26, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.26.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.04. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.88% and a net margin of 5.67%.The firm had revenue of $977.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $873.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 56.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.24%.

Element Solutions Company Profile

Element Solutions Inc is a global specialty chemicals company that develops and supplies highly engineered chemistries to performance-driven end markets. The company's solutions serve customers across the electronics, energy, transportation, consumer and industrial sectors, with a particular emphasis on electronics chemicals, metal plating, and industrial coatings additives.

In the electronics market, Element Solutions provides a range of plating and surface-treatment chemistries used in the manufacture of printed circuit boards, semiconductor devices, and advanced display technologies.

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