Wall Street Zen Downgrades Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) to Hold

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Element Solutions (ESI) from a "buy" to a "hold," though the analyst consensus remains a Buy with an average target price of $35.75.
• Q2 earnings beat: ESI reported $0.37 EPS vs. $0.36 expected and revenue of $676.2M vs. $632.4M, with revenue up 8.3% year-over-year.
• Insider sale and heavy institutional ownership: Director E. Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares for about $5.1M (reducing his stake ~49%), and institutional investors/hedge funds own roughly 92.3% of the stock.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Sunday.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $37.00 price target on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. 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. KeyCorp upped their price target on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Element Solutions from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $35.75.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Shares of ESI opened at $37.63 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $33.15 and a 200-day moving average of $28.81. The company has a current ratio of 3.68, a quick ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Element Solutions has a 52 week low of $17.23 and a 52 week high of $38.05. The firm has a market cap of $9.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.63, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.23.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $676.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $632.40 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 13.79% and a net margin of 7.48%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Element Solutions will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

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 transaction, the director owned 147,832 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,250,992.64. This represents a 49.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 6.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Element Solutions

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Walnut Level Capital LLC bought a new stake in Element Solutions during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,812,000. Vest Financial LLC grew its position in Element Solutions by 126.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 115,531 shares of the company's stock worth $2,908,000 after acquiring an additional 64,433 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Element Solutions by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,256,926 shares of the company's stock worth $207,822,000 after acquiring an additional 139,751 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors bought a new stake in Element Solutions during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,185,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Element Solutions by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,195,840 shares of the company's stock worth $105,609,000 after acquiring an additional 916,804 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Element Solutions Company 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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