Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 28,010 Shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) by 27.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,809 shares of the company’s stock after selling 28,010 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $2,002,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Element Solutions by 20.6% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 37,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $863,000 after buying an additional 6,357 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in Element Solutions by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 39,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $913,000 after acquiring an additional 1,709 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Element Solutions by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,168,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,190,000 after acquiring an additional 65,894 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Element Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at $275,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Element Solutions during the fourth quarter worth $221,000. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ESI. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com cut Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Element Solutions from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price (up previously from $28.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.40.

Element Solutions Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of ESI stock opened at $25.31 on Friday. Element Solutions Inc has a fifty-two week low of $17.57 and a fifty-two week high of $28.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $26.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 3.50. The company has a market cap of $6.13 billion, a PE ratio of 46.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.29.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.42% and a net margin of 8.24%. The firm had revenue of $613.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $606.95 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.31 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.26%.

Element Solutions 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.