Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Short Interest Update

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) saw a significant drop in short interest in 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. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Element Solutions from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Element Solutions from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. StockNews.com lowered Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet upgraded Element Solutions from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Element Solutions from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.60.

Element Solutions Stock Down 1.5 %

NYSE ESI traded down $0.37 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $24.08. 1,430,729 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,236,038. The company’s 50-day moving average is $24.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.99. Element Solutions has a one year low of $17.08 and a one year 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 company has a market capitalization of $5.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.32.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last posted its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $573.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $590.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.29 EPS. Element Solutions’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Element Solutions will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.31%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Michael Goralski sold 11,604 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total value of $269,212.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 143,446 shares in the company, valued at $3,327,947.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Benjamin Gliklich sold 61,667 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was 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 $16,341,964. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Michael Goralski sold 11,604 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total value of $269,212.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 143,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,327,947.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 97,203 shares of company stock worth $2,255,110. 7.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Element Solutions

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Element Solutions by 85.6% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 608 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Element Solutions during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Element Solutions by 370.4% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,278 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in Element Solutions by 95.9% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in Element Solutions by 1,585.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,902 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

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.