Values First Advisors Inc. Makes New $151,000 Investment in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $151,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ESI. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 14.7% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,289,741 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,458,000 after buying an additional 676,432 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 5,106,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,490,000 after purchasing an additional 315,645 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 149.2% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,934,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,698,000 after purchasing an additional 2,355,554 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,061,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,485,000 after purchasing an additional 298,668 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the 1st quarter worth about $44,527,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research upgraded Element Solutions from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Element Solutions presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.40.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESI opened at $26.98 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $25.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.53. 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 cap of $6.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.29. Element Solutions Inc has a 1-year low of $17.76 and a 1-year high of $28.68.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Element Solutions had a net margin of 8.24% and a return on equity of 14.42%. The company had revenue of $613.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $606.95 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.26%.

About Element Solutions

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.