Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Cuts Stock Holdings in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Key Points

• Massachusetts Financial Services reduced its Element Solutions stake by 8.5% in Q4, selling 187,927 shares and now holds 2,016,868 shares worth about $50.4 million (≈0.83% of the company).
• Insider sale: Director E. Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares at an average $35.52 on Feb. 20 (~$5.10 million), cutting his ownership by 49.27%; insiders now own 6.20% of the stock.
• Analyst view and performance: ESI carries a consensus "Buy" rating with an average target of $35.75; the company recently beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates and the stock trades around $38.20, near its 52‑week high.

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its position in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,016,868 shares of the company's stock after selling 187,927 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 0.83% of Element Solutions worth $50,402,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Element Solutions by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,256,926 shares of the company's stock worth $207,822,000 after purchasing an additional 139,751 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Element Solutions by 68.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,922,726 shares of the company's stock worth $123,905,000 after purchasing an additional 2,003,724 shares in the last quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Element Solutions by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,722,464 shares of the company's stock worth $118,864,000 after purchasing an additional 413,834 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in Element Solutions by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,426,445 shares of the company's stock worth $111,414,000 after purchasing an additional 129,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Element Solutions by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,195,840 shares of the company's stock worth $105,609,000 after purchasing an additional 916,804 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.52, for a total transaction of $5,099,393.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 147,832 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,250,992.64. This represents a 49.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 6.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on ESI. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $37.00 target price on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Element Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Element Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $35.75.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

NYSE:ESI opened at $38.20 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 3.00 and a current ratio of 3.68. The company has a fifty day moving average of $33.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.30 billion, a PE ratio of 48.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.23. Element Solutions Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.77 and a fifty-two week high of $38.49.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $676.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $632.40 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 7.48% and a return on equity of 13.79%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio is presently 40.51%.

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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