Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $29.40.

ESI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price (up from $28.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Element Solutions from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESI opened at $25.15 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.65. Element Solutions has a 52 week low of $17.57 and a 52 week high of $28.68. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 3.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.42% and a net margin of 8.24%. The firm had revenue of $613.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $606.95 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.31 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Element Solutions will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.26%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Element Solutions

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Element Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $794,000. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. now owns 618,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,316,000 after purchasing an additional 13,277 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new stake in Element Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at $141,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in Element Solutions by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,684,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,390,000 after buying an additional 188,350 shares during the period. Finally, Moody Aldrich Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 273,135 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,320,000 after buying an additional 24,852 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Element Solutions Company 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.