Vanguard Group Inc. Has $563.73 Million Stock Position in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 12.1% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,932,851 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,688,056 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Element Solutions worth $563,732,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 479.7% in the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 67,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,528,000 after buying an additional 55,933 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 48.5% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,716,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,805,000 after buying an additional 560,346 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Element Solutions in the first quarter worth $623,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 13.3% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 28,196 shares of the company’s stock worth $638,000 after buying an additional 3,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 110.0% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 59,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,336,000 after buying an additional 30,953 shares during the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Element Solutions Stock Up 2.9%

ESI opened at $25.50 on Thursday. Element Solutions Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.77 and a fifty-two week high of $29.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 3.30. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $23.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.06. The company has a market capitalization of $6.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.26.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $625.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $587.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is currently 32.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ESI. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 target price (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.38.

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.