SG Americas Securities LLC Makes New Investment in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI)

SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 27,570 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $623,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Element Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $423,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,328,894 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,224,000 after buying an additional 29,253 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 74,709 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,900,000 after buying an additional 11,702 shares during the period. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Element Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $24,169,000. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Element Solutions in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $585,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America raised shares of Element Solutions from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $29.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $25.75.

Element Solutions Trading Up 0.6%

Element Solutions stock traded up $0.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $21.50. The company had a trading volume of 4,312,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,962,403. Element Solutions Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.77 and a 1-year 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. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $21.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.59. The stock has a market cap of $5.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.89%.

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.