Voya Investment Management LLC Sells 261,556 Shares of Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Key Points

• Voya Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Element Solutions Inc. by 28.8%, selling 261,556 shares and retaining a total of 646,180 shares, valued at approximately $14.61 million.
• Analysts have issued new price targets for Element Solutions, with Goldman Sachs setting a price objective of $27.00 and UBS Group raising theirs to $30.00, reflecting overall positive sentiments with an average rating of "Buy."
• Element Solutions recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, with a total annualized dividend of $0.32, representing a yield of 1.2% and a payout ratio of 32%.

Voya Investment Management LLC decreased its position in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 28.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 646,180 shares of the company's stock after selling 261,556 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC owned about 0.27% of Element Solutions worth $14,610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gates Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Element Solutions by 101.9% in the first quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,424,745 shares of the company's stock valued at $122,653,000 after acquiring an additional 2,738,250 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,932,851 shares of the company's stock valued at $563,732,000 after buying an additional 2,688,056 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 131.0% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,861,197 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,692,000 after buying an additional 1,622,819 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 1,431.1% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,143,869 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,863,000 after buying an additional 1,069,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the 1st quarter valued at $20,041,000. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESI traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $26.52. 2,162,351 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,483,328. Element Solutions Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.77 and a 52 week high of $29.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 3.30. The firm has a market cap of $6.41 billion, a PE ratio of 26.52, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.31. The company's 50 day moving average price is $24.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.04.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $625.20 million for 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.36 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ESI. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of 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 set a $27.00 target price (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Fermium Researc upgraded shares of Element Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho lifted their price target on Element Solutions from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.38.

About Element Solutions

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.