New York State Teachers Retirement System Grows Position in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI)

New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 1,961.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 70,328 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 66,916 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System's holdings in Element Solutions were worth $1,590,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 80.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,921,021 shares of the company's stock valued at $74,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,301,602 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd bought a new position in shares of Element Solutions in the fourth quarter worth $29,818,000. London Co. of Virginia purchased a new stake in shares of Element Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,800,000. Boston Partners purchased a new position in Element Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,169,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Element Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at $13,573,000. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Element Solutions Price Performance

NYSE:ESI traded up $0.35 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $25.11. 2,001,953 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,032,891. The company has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.23. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $22.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.33. Element Solutions Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.77 and a 52-week high of $29.78. The company has a current ratio of 3.95, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.42% and a net margin of 11.56%. The company had revenue of $593.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $576.73 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $24.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America upgraded Element Solutions from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $29.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $26.25.

Element Solutions Company Profile

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.