Oak Thistle LLC Buys New Shares in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Key Points

• Oak Thistle LLC established a new stake in Element Solutions in Q4, buying 31,888 shares (~$797,000), and institutional investors now own 92.32% of the company.
• Analysts have recently raised ratings and targets — the consensus is a Buy with an average price target of $35.75, including upgrades to $43 (UBS) and $38 (Truist).
• Element Solutions beat quarterly estimates (EPS $0.37 vs. $0.36; revenue $676.2M vs. $632.4M), declared a quarterly dividend of $0.08 (0.9% yield), and its shares trade near a 12-month high (~$37.63 open).

Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 31,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $797,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 154.8% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,116 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. purchased a new stake in Element Solutions in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Element Solutions in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Element Solutions during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new stake in Element Solutions during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ESI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $37.00 price target on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group increased their price target on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised Element Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $35.75.

Element Solutions Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:ESI opened at $37.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.63, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.23. Element Solutions Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.23 and a 12 month high of $38.05. The company has a current ratio of 3.68, a quick ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $33.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.79.

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

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio is presently 40.51%.

Insider Transactions at Element Solutions

In other Element Solutions news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of Element Solutions 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 transaction, the director directly owned 147,832 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,250,992.64. The trade was 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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