Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Director Martin E. Franklin Sells 2,000,000 Shares of Stock

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total transaction of $52,200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 109,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,847,510. This trade represents a 94.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Element Solutions Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ESI opened at $25.31 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a PE ratio of 24.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $25.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.33. Element Solutions Inc has a fifty-two week low of $23.10 and a fifty-two week high of $29.78. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.35. The firm had revenue of $624.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $598.24 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 14.68%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on ESI. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 price objective (down from $32.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. They set a “hold” rating and a $28.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.14.

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESI. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 162.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 2,470,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,085,000 after buying an additional 1,529,607 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Element Solutions by 549.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,619,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,983,000 after buying an additional 1,369,981 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the 4th quarter worth about $29,818,000. London Co. of Virginia acquired a new position in shares of Element Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,800,000. Finally, Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of Element Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,169,000. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.