Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Trims Stock Holdings in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its stake in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) by 15.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,978,129 shares of the company’s stock after selling 362,308 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $53,726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 27.4% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 121,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,037,000 after purchasing an additional 26,104 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Element Solutions in the first quarter valued at $78,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,259,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,453,000 after buying an additional 41,718 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Castleark Management LLC now owns 286,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,146,000 after acquiring an additional 33,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Element Solutions by 271.9% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 51,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,385,000 after acquiring an additional 37,331 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on ESI shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 2nd. Wolfe Research raised shares of Element Solutions from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.00.

Element Solutions Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE ESI opened at $29.04 on Monday. Element Solutions Inc has a one year low of $20.31 and a one year high of $29.16. The firm has a market cap of $7.03 billion, a PE ratio of 26.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $26.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.52.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.42% and a net margin of 11.08%. The firm had revenue of $645.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $626.52 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.83%.

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.