Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its position in Element Solutions by 1.1% in Q4, selling 268,166 shares and leaving it with 25,145,035 shares (about 10.39% of the company) valued at roughly $628.4 million.
• Director E. Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares on Feb. 20 for about $5.10 million, a 49.27% cut to his stake; insiders now own 6.20% of the stock while institutional investors hold 92.32%.
• Element Solutions beat quarterly estimates with EPS of $0.41 vs. $0.38 and revenue of $840M (vs. $710.5M est.), up 41.5% year-over-year, and the stock carries a consensus Buy rating with an average target of $39.57 (UBS $52).

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its stake in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,145,035 shares of the company's stock after selling 268,166 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 10.39% of Element Solutions worth $628,374,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Quent Long Short Global Small Cap Fund LP acquired a new position in shares of Element Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at about $391,000. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of Element Solutions by 422.4% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 44,282 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,107,000 after purchasing an additional 35,805 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 202,904 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,071,000 after purchasing an additional 2,208 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 77,739 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,943,000 after purchasing an additional 2,573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 345.9% in the fourth quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 3,616 shares of the company's stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 2,805 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.52, for a total value of $5,099,393.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 147,832 shares in the company, valued at $5,250,992.64. This trade represents a 49.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 6.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

NYSE ESI opened at $43.02 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Element Solutions Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.50 and a 52-week high of $43.83. The business's 50-day moving average price is $35.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.17. The firm has a market cap of $10.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.27.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.03. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.19% and a net margin of 5.32%.The firm had revenue of $840.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $710.51 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 41.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ESI. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Mizuho upped their price target on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Element Solutions from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $37.00 target price on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Element Solutions to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $39.57.

Element Solutions Profile

Element Solutions Inc is a global specialty chemicals company that develops and supplies highly engineered chemistries to performance-driven end markets. The company's solutions serve customers across the electronics, energy, transportation, consumer and industrial sectors, with a particular emphasis on electronics chemicals, metal plating, and industrial coatings additives.

In the electronics market, Element Solutions provides a range of plating and surface-treatment chemistries used in the manufacture of printed circuit boards, semiconductor devices, and advanced display technologies.

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