Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Director Martin E. Franklin Sells 2,000,000 Shares

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total transaction of $52,200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 109,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,847,510. The trade was a 94.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Shares of ESI stock traded down $0.92 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $25.31. 40,230,566 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,603,909. The company has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a PE ratio of 24.81, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 3.34, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Element Solutions Inc has a 12-month low of $23.10 and a 12-month high of $29.78. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.34.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.35. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The business had revenue of $624.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $598.24 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is 31.37%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Element Solutions

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 79.0% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 60,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,541,000 after buying an additional 26,753 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Element Solutions by 40.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 172,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,672,000 after purchasing an additional 49,466 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Element Solutions by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 74,709 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,900,000 after purchasing an additional 11,702 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,328,894 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,224,000 after purchasing an additional 29,253 shares during the period. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at about $433,000. 92.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ESI shares. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 price target (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. Barclays dropped their price target on Element Solutions from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Element Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.14.

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.