Russell Investments Group Ltd. Grows Holdings in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Element Solutions Inc. by 14.1%, purchasing an additional 37,377 shares during the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to 302,800 shares valued at approximately $6.8 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and Principal Financial Group Inc., also significantly increased their stakes, indicating growing confidence in Element Solutions, which is now 92.32% owned by hedge funds and institutional investors.
• Analysts have mixed views on Element Solutions, with price targets ranging from $27.00 to $30.00, while the stock currently holds a consensus rating of "Buy".

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 14.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 302,800 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 37,377 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.12% of Element Solutions worth $6,846,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ESI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,932,851 shares of the company's stock worth $563,732,000 after purchasing an additional 2,688,056 shares during the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 5,026,543 shares of the company's stock valued at $127,825,000 after purchasing an additional 146,570 shares during the last quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 15.9% during the first quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,680,449 shares of the company's stock valued at $83,215,000 after buying an additional 505,983 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Element Solutions by 31.0% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,753,606 shares of the company's stock worth $62,259,000 after buying an additional 651,251 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gates Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,686,495 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,318,000 after purchasing an additional 134,465 shares in the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays cut their price objective on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $27.00 price target (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.38.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

NYSE:ESI traded down $0.2750 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $25.6350. The stock had a trading volume of 348,814 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,549,952. 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 quick ratio of 3.30 and a current ratio of 4.10. The stock has a market cap of $6.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.62, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.26. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $23.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.01.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $625.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $587.45 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 14.14%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.00%.

Element Solutions 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.