Short Interest in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Declines By 5.8%

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,620,000 shares, a drop of 5.8% from the October 31st total of 1,720,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,340,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.2 days. Approximately 0.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 46,005 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,249,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,683 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 448 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 33,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $911,000 after buying an additional 733 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $309,000 after buying an additional 798 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 39.4% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 864 shares during the period. 92.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Element Solutions Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Element Solutions stock opened at $27.83 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.74 billion, a PE ratio of 25.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.28. Element Solutions has a twelve month low of $20.31 and a twelve month high of $29.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $27.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.36. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a net margin of 11.08% and a return on equity of 14.42%. The business had revenue of $645.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $626.52 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Element Solutions will post 1.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.