First Trust Advisors LP Grows Stock Holdings in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 67.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,034,817 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 820,465 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.84% of Element Solutions worth $51,216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ESI. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 154.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the second quarter worth about $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Element Solutions by 710.1% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,288 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,129 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Element Solutions during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 6,693.1% in the 3rd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 1,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941 shares in the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

NYSE:ESI opened at $32.57 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $7.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.23, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.24. Element Solutions Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.77 and a 1 year high of $37.74. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 3.68 and a quick ratio of 3.00.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 13.79% and a net margin of 7.48%.The firm had revenue of $676.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $632.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Matthew Liebowitz sold 37,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total transaction of $984,200.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 117,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,122,653.80. This represents a 23.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.52, for a total transaction of $5,099,393.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 147,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,250,992.64. The trade was a 49.27% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 6.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ESI shares. CJS Securities raised shares of Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $37.00 price target on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.75.

Element Solutions Profile

Element Solutions Inc is a global specialty chemicals company that develops and supplies highly engineered chemistries to performance-driven end markets. The company’s solutions serve customers across the electronics, energy, transportation, consumer and industrial sectors, with a particular emphasis on electronics chemicals, metal plating, and industrial coatings additives.

In the electronics market, Element Solutions provides a range of plating and surface-treatment chemistries used in the manufacture of printed circuit boards, semiconductor devices, and advanced display technologies.