PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Acquires 7,121 Shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 107.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 13,765 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,121 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $311,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Amalgamated Bank increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 479.7% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 67,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 55,933 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Element Solutions by 48.5% during 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 in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Element Solutions during the first quarter valued at about $623,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Element Solutions by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 28,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $638,000 after acquiring an additional 3,302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 110.0% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 59,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,336,000 after acquiring an additional 30,953 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. 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. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. KeyCorp increased their price target 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. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Two investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.38.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

NYSE ESI opened at $24.92 on Friday. Element Solutions Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.77 and a 1-year high of $29.78. The company has a 50 day moving average of $23.44 and a 200-day moving average of $23.06. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 3.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of $6.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.92, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.26.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $625.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $587.45 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.14% and a net margin of 9.66%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

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