Brokerages Set Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) PT at $31.40

Shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) have earned an average rating of “Buy” from the seven analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $31.40.

A number of research analysts recently commented on ESI shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Element Solutions from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

NYSE ESI opened at $25.51 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.67. Element Solutions has a 12-month low of $21.42 and a 12-month high of $29.78. The company has a market capitalization of $6.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.42% and a net margin of 11.08%. The business had revenue of $645.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $626.52 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Element Solutions will post 1.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is presently 28.83%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ESI. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Element Solutions by 149.2% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,934,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,698,000 after acquiring an additional 2,355,554 shares during the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP boosted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 162.7% during the third quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 2,470,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,085,000 after purchasing an additional 1,529,607 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 549.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,619,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,983,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369,981 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Element Solutions in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,364,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in Element Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $21,889,000. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.