Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) Downgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on ESI. Barclays upped their price target on Element Solutions from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a peer perform rating on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an outperform rating and set a $30.00 price objective (up from $28.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $27.60.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of ESI stock opened at $27.31 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.59. The company has a market cap of $6.61 billion, a PE ratio of 50.57, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 3.63, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. Element Solutions has a 12-month low of $17.57 and a 12-month high of $27.86.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $575.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $588.17 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 13.96% and a net margin of 5.62%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Element Solutions will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 31st. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is 59.26%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Element Solutions

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESI. Capital World Investors purchased a new stake in Element Solutions in the first quarter valued at $44,527,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 47.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,403,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,362,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412,706 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,719,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $445,523,000 after acquiring an additional 1,035,756 shares in the last quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 35.2% during the 4th quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC now owns 3,762,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,067,000 after acquiring an additional 979,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 10,622.4% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 848,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,636,000 after acquiring an additional 840,653 shares in the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Element Solutions Company Profile

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.