Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 15,871 Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has invested $359,000 in Element Solutions Inc., acquiring 15,871 shares during the first quarter.
• Element Solutions reported $0.37 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, and had a revenue of approximately $625 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, translating to a 1.3% dividend yield for its stockholders.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 15,871 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $359,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 479.7% during the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 67,594 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 55,933 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 48.5% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,716,292 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,805,000 after purchasing an additional 560,346 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Element Solutions during the first quarter valued at approximately $623,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 13.3% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 28,196 shares of the company's stock valued at $638,000 after purchasing an additional 3,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 110.0% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 59,102 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,336,000 after purchasing an additional 30,953 shares during the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on ESI. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Mizuho increased their target price 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. Bank of America raised shares of Element Solutions from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their target price for the company from $29.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Truist Financial raised shares of Element Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their target price for the company from $28.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $27.00 price target (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Element Solutions presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $27.38.

Element Solutions Trading Up 3.4%

Shares of ESI stock traded up $0.80 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $24.58. 141,680 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,613,522. Element Solutions Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.77 and a 1-year high of $29.78. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $23.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.03. The company has a quick ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.94 billion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.26.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last released 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. 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.