Royal Bank of Canada Boosts Stock Position in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 27.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 130,449 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,316 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $4,453,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESI. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 339.3% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 446,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,098,000 after buying an additional 344,950 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 60.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,894,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,825,000 after buying an additional 712,466 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in Element Solutions by 4.5% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 872,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,726,000 after acquiring an additional 37,204 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new stake in Element Solutions during the first quarter worth approximately $400,000. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in Element Solutions by 258,233.3% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 93,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,237,000 after acquiring an additional 92,964 shares during the period. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on ESI shares. Seaport Research Partners reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $49.00 price target on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Mizuho restated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price objective (down from $54.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Element Solutions to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $47.00 target price on Element Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.50.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Element Solutions stock opened at $39.01 on Friday. Element Solutions Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.86 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.84. The company has a market cap of $9.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.72, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.26.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $977.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $873.19 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 14.88%. Element Solutions’s revenue was up 56.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.20 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.24%.

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.