Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Short Interest Down 5.8% in March

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,580,000 shares, a drop of 5.8% from the March 15th total of 3,800,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days. Approximately 1.6% of the company's stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Element Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays lifted their target price on Element Solutions from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. TheStreet raised Element Solutions from a "c+" rating to a "b" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Element Solutions from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on Element Solutions from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Element Solutions currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $25.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Element Solutions

In other Element Solutions news, EVP Michael Goralski sold 1,169 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total value of $27,120.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 146,297 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,394,090.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Element Solutions news, EVP Michael Goralski sold 1,169 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total value of $27,120.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 146,297 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,394,090.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Benjamin Gliklich sold 61,667 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total value of $1,430,674.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 704,395 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,341,964. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 97,203 shares of company stock valued at $2,255,110 in the last 90 days. 7.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Element Solutions

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 47.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,403,980 shares of the company's stock valued at $86,362,000 after buying an additional 1,412,706 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Element Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $23,205,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 4.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,719,174 shares of the company's stock valued at $445,523,000 after buying an additional 1,035,756 shares during the period. Glenview Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC now owns 3,762,620 shares of the company's stock valued at $87,067,000 after buying an additional 979,798 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 10,622.4% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 848,567 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,636,000 after buying an additional 840,653 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Element Solutions stock traded down $0.37 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $24.08. 1,430,729 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,318,011. Element Solutions has a 52 week low of $17.08 and a 52 week high of $25.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 2.43 and a current ratio of 3.24. The firm has a market cap of $5.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.32. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $24.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.99.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 13.51% and a net margin of 5.06%. The company had revenue of $573.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $590.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Element Solutions will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio is presently 65.31%.

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.