Shellback Capital LP Trims Stake in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Key Points

• Shellback Capital LP significantly reduced its holdings in Element Solutions Inc. by 55.8%, holding 194,459 shares after selling 245,000 during the first quarter.
• Analysts are optimistic about Element Solutions, with several firms raising their price targets to a consensus of $27.38 and maintaining a majority "Buy" rating.
• Element Solutions announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, equating to an annual yield of 1.2%, payable on September 15th to shareholders of record on September 2nd.

Shellback Capital LP decreased its position in shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 55.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 194,459 shares of the company's stock after selling 245,000 shares during the quarter. Shellback Capital LP owned about 0.08% of Element Solutions worth $4,397,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Amalgamated Bank increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 479.7% during the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 67,594 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,528,000 after acquiring an additional 55,933 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 48.5% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,716,292 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,805,000 after acquiring an additional 560,346 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the first quarter valued at approximately $623,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 13.3% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 28,196 shares of the company's stock valued at $638,000 after acquiring an additional 3,302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 110.0% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 59,102 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,336,000 after acquiring an additional 30,953 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group raised their target price on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $27.00 target price (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Mizuho raised their target price on Element Solutions from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $27.38.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ESI traded down $0.48 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $25.79. The company had a trading volume of 1,093,442 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,639,371. The company has a market capitalization of $6.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.31. 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 4.10, a quick ratio of 3.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $24.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.00.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $625.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $587.45 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.14% and a net margin of 9.66%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share. On average, sell-side 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 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Element Solutions's payout ratio is 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.