Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Purchases 57,308 Shares of Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Key Points

• Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Element Solutions Inc. by 60.2% during Q2, owning approximately 152,519 shares valued at $3,455,000.
• Element Solutions reported $0.37 earnings per share for the latest quarter, exceeding consensus estimates, with revenues reaching $625.20 million.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08, yielding 1.2%, with a dividend payout ratio of 32.00%.

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 60.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 152,519 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 57,308 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. owned about 0.06% of Element Solutions worth $3,455,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 1.2% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 45,210 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 7.1% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 10,319 shares of the company's stock valued at $233,000 after buying an additional 681 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 1.9% during the first quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 47,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,083,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 8.7% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 11,529 shares of the company's stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 922 shares during the period. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,748 shares of the company's stock worth $379,000 after buying an additional 1,052 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ESI traded down $0.47 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $26.52. The stock had a trading volume of 6,265,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,717,859. The business's fifty day moving average is $24.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.04. The company has a market cap of $6.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.52, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.31. Element Solutions Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.77 and a twelve month high of $29.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 3.30.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.14% and a net margin of 9.66%.The firm had revenue of $625.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $587.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was 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 currently 32.00%.

Insider Activity at Element Solutions

In other news, EVP Carey J. Dorman sold 40,725 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total value of $1,085,728.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 214,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,727,554.42. This represents a 15.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John Edward Capps sold 77,674 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.77, for a total transaction of $2,079,332.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 609,790 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,324,078.30. This trade represents a 11.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 168,399 shares of company stock valued at $4,492,561. Corporate insiders own 6.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on ESI. Fermium Researc raised shares of Element Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp upped their price target on 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 objective (up from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Mizuho upped their price objective on 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 objective on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $27.38.

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.