Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires New Position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 25,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $585,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the 4th quarter worth approximately $423,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,328,894 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,224,000 after buying an additional 29,253 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 74,709 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,900,000 after buying an additional 11,702 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,169,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the 4th quarter worth approximately $433,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ESI opened at $22.00 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $20.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.34. The firm has a market cap of $5.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.57, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.23. Element Solutions Inc has a 1 year low of $16.77 and a 1 year high of $29.78.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $593.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $576.73 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 9.94%. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.34 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ESI. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.38.

Insider Transactions at Element Solutions

In related news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total transaction of $52,200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 109,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,847,510. This trade represents a 94.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 6.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Element Solutions 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.