Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Element Solutions Put Options (NYSE:ESI)

Key Points

• Unusually heavy put-option buying hit Element Solutions, with investors purchasing 7,009 puts on Thursday, about 207% above its average daily volume.
• Despite the bearish options activity, analysts remain broadly positive on the stock, with an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $39.57.
• Element Solutions reported solid quarterly results, beating earnings and revenue estimates, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share payable June 15.

Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors bought 7,009 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 207% compared to the average volume of 2,285 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Wednesday. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Element Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $38.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $39.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Element Solutions news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was 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 directly owned 147,832 shares in the company, valued at $5,250,992.64. This represents a 49.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Element Solutions

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESI. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,119,999 shares of the company's stock worth $277,889,000 after buying an additional 1,298,273 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Element Solutions by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,485,342 shares of the company's stock valued at $212,053,000 after buying an additional 228,416 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Element Solutions by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,161,586 shares of the company's stock valued at $178,968,000 after buying an additional 83,033 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 43.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,069,238 shares of the company's stock worth $176,660,000 after acquiring an additional 2,146,512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its position in Element Solutions by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,089,359 shares of the company's stock worth $127,183,000 after acquiring an additional 621,448 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Element Solutions Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Element Solutions stock traded down $0.62 on Thursday, reaching $39.93. 269,756 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,910,998. Element Solutions has a fifty-two week low of $20.80 and a fifty-two week high of $45.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.59.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $840.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $710.51 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.19% and a net margin of 5.32%.Element Solutions's revenue for the quarter was up 41.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.34 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Element Solutions will post 1.78 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Element Solutions's payout ratio is currently 51.61%.

About Element Solutions

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.