Versant Capital Management Inc Boosts Position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 9,246.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,535 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 19,326 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc's holdings in Element Solutions were worth $442,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 96.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 108,174 shares of the company's stock worth $2,938,000 after acquiring an additional 52,973 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 26.4% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 25,987 shares of the company's stock valued at $661,000 after purchasing an additional 5,431 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Element Solutions by 39.7% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,638 shares of the company's stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 2,737 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Element Solutions during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $122,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Element Solutions by 77.5% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,086 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total value of $52,200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 109,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,847,510. This trade represents a 94.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 6.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on ESI. Bank of America raised shares of Element Solutions from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $29.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Element Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays dropped their price target on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Truist Financial upgraded Element Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $28.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $26.38.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

ESI traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $21.54. 430,597 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,959,565. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $20.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.24. 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 3.34, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $593.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $576.73 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The firm's revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.34 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.89%.

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.