First Trust Advisors LP Boosts Position in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Element Solutions by 8.9% in the first quarter, adding 180,898 shares and bringing its total holding to 2.22 million shares worth about $75.8 million.
• Element Solutions reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, posting $0.41 EPS versus estimates of $0.38 and revenue of $840 million versus the $710.5 million consensus, with revenue up 41.5% year over year.
• Analysts remain generally bullish on the stock, with several firms raising price targets and the consensus rating sitting at “Buy” with an average target price of $43.00.

First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 8.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,221,483 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 180,898 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.91% of Element Solutions worth $75,841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ESI. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 37.2% in the fourth quarter. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT now owns 264,211 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,603,000 after purchasing an additional 71,686 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Element Solutions by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,524,090 shares of the company's stock valued at $63,077,000 after purchasing an additional 174,228 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of Element Solutions by 45.2% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 189,883 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,767,000 after purchasing an additional 59,154 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 221.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 350,196 shares of the company's stock worth $8,751,000 after purchasing an additional 241,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,405,232 shares of the company's stock worth $85,097,000 after purchasing an additional 123,244 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Element Solutions Price Performance

ESI stock opened at $37.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.12 billion, a PE ratio of 60.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.88. Element Solutions Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.63 and a 12-month high of $49.25.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $840.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $710.51 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.19% and a net margin of 5.32%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 41.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.34 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Element Solutions to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Element Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Element Solutions from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Element Solutions from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $43.00.

About Element Solutions

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ESI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.