Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Sells 466,945 Shares of Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. cut its holdings in shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,296,855 shares of the company’s stock after selling 466,945 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $97,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESI. Gates Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Element Solutions by 101.9% during the 1st quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,424,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,653,000 after buying an additional 2,738,250 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Element Solutions by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,932,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $563,732,000 after buying an additional 2,688,056 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Element Solutions by 131.0% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,861,197 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,692,000 after buying an additional 1,622,819 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Element Solutions by 1,431.1% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,143,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,863,000 after buying an additional 1,069,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Element Solutions during the 1st quarter worth about $20,041,000. 92.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John Edward Capps sold 77,674 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.77, for a total transaction of $2,079,332.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 609,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,324,078.30. This represents a 11.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Carey J. Dorman sold 40,725 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total transaction of $1,085,728.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 214,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,727,554.42. This trade represents a 15.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 168,399 shares of company stock worth $4,492,561 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 6.90% of the company’s stock.

Element Solutions Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of ESI opened at $26.91 on Friday. Element Solutions Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.77 and a 52 week high of $29.78. The firm has a market cap of $6.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 3.30 and a current ratio of 4.10.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 14.14%. The business had revenue of $625.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. Element Solutions’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ESI. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $27.00 target price (up from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Fermium Researc raised shares of Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.63.

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.