Element Solutions Inc. $ESI Stock Holdings Lessened by Scoggin Management LP

Key Points

• Scoggin Management LP has reduced its holdings in Element Solutions Inc. by 64.7%, selling 457,500 shares and bringing its ownership down to 250,000 shares, which now represents 1.6% of its investment portfolio.
• Element Solutions has seen significant interest from institutional investors, with notable increases in stakes from Amalgamated Bank, Bank of New York Mellon Corp, and others during the first quarter of the year.
• Multiple analysts have raised their price targets for Element Solutions, with Mizuho setting a new price of $27.00, indicating a generally positive outlook for the company's stock.

Scoggin Management LP decreased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 64.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 250,000 shares of the company's stock after selling 457,500 shares during the period. Element Solutions makes up 1.6% of Scoggin Management LP's portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Scoggin Management LP owned 0.10% of Element Solutions worth $5,652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,932,851 shares of the company's stock valued at $563,732,000 after purchasing an additional 2,688,056 shares in the last quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 101.9% during the 1st quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,424,745 shares of the company's stock valued at $122,653,000 after purchasing an additional 2,738,250 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 3.0% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 15.9% during the 1st quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,680,449 shares of the company's stock valued at $83,215,000 after purchasing an additional 505,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 31.0% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,753,606 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,259,000 after purchasing an additional 651,251 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Element Solutions Trading Up 1.8%

ESI stock traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $26.17. 3,079,928 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,519,970. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 3.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Element Solutions Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.77 and a 52-week high of $29.78. The company has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.31. The stock's fifty day moving average is $24.53 and its 200-day moving average is $23.04.

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

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ESI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $27.00 price objective (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Mizuho upped their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $27.38.

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.