Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Takes $453,000 Position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC acquired a new stake in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 16,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $453,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Element Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 51.9% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 684 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 1,585.0% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,902 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Element Solutions during the first quarter worth about $78,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Element Solutions by 13.8% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 448 shares in the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ESI. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 14th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. 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 report on Wednesday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.40.

Element Solutions Price Performance

ESI opened at $25.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 3.50 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The company has a market capitalization of $6.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $25.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.27. Element Solutions Inc has a 1 year low of $17.57 and a 1 year high of $28.68.

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

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is 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.