Vanguard Group Inc. Has $563.73 Million Stake in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Element Solutions Inc. by 12.1% in the first quarter, owning approximately 10.28% of the company, valued at $563.73 million.
• Element Solutions reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.37 for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, with revenue reaching $625.20 million.
• Research firms have set a consensus target price of $27.38 for Element Solutions, with the company receiving various ratings, including a strong buy from one analyst.

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 12.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,932,851 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,688,056 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 10.28% of Element Solutions worth $563,732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ESI. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Element Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 940.6% in the first quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 2,279 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 2,060 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 100.5% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,469 shares of the company's stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 1,739 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 7,792 shares of the company's stock worth $198,000 after acquiring an additional 1,763 shares during the period. Finally, Caption Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Element Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at $216,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $27.00 target price (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Element Solutions has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.38.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of Element Solutions stock traded down $0.30 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $24.92. 1,789,318 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,999,067. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $23.44 and a 200-day moving average of $23.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.26.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $625.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.45 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.14% and a net margin of 9.66%. The company's revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Element Solutions's payout ratio is presently 32.00%.

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.