Short Interest in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Grows By 12.5%

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) saw a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,520,000 shares, a growth of 12.5% from the July 31st total of 2,240,000 shares. Approximately 1.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,490,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ESI shares. Mizuho upped their price objective 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price (up previously from $28.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Element Solutions from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Element Solutions currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.40.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

ESI stock traded up $0.23 during trading on Monday, reaching $26.74. 1,021,900 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,374,249. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.08. The company has a current ratio of 3.50, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $6.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.31. Element Solutions has a twelve month low of $17.57 and a twelve month high of $28.68.

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

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is 59.26%.

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quarry LP bought a new position in Element Solutions during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Element Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Element Solutions by 370.4% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,278 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its stake in Element Solutions by 95.9% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 886 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 51.9% during 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 during the period. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.