Swiss National Bank Trims Stake in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI)

Swiss National Bank reduced its position in shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 445,789 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,600 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $10,079,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ESI. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Element Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 940.6% during the 1st quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 2,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 2,060 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 100.5% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,469 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 1,739 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 7,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,000 after acquiring an additional 1,763 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caption Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the 4th quarter worth $216,000. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 price objective (up from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.38.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Element Solutions stock opened at $24.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $6.02 billion, a PE ratio of 24.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.06. Element Solutions Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.77 and a twelve month high of $29.78.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $587.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

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

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.