KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Acquires New Position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 47,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,195,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 5,209,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,468,000 after purchasing an additional 209,441 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,319,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,320,000 after buying an additional 230,793 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,541,513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,216,000 after buying an additional 18,791 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Element Solutions by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 2,562,889 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,174,000 after buying an additional 19,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP raised its stake in Element Solutions by 162.7% during the third quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 2,470,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,085,000 after acquiring an additional 1,529,607 shares during the period. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Element Solutions Stock Down 2.7 %

Element Solutions stock opened at $22.96 on Friday. Element Solutions Inc has a 52 week low of $22.71 and a 52 week high of $29.78. The stock has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.51, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $25.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.31. 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 (NYSE:ESI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.35. The firm had revenue of $624.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $598.24 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 9.94%. On average, analysts expect that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.37%.

Insider Transactions at Element Solutions

In other Element Solutions news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total value of $52,200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 109,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,847,510. The trade was a 94.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 7.90% of the company’s stock.

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.