Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Trims Stock Position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lessened its holdings in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) by 26.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 108,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 40,000 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $2,947,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Element Solutions during the second quarter worth $1,518,000. Capital World Investors purchased a new position in Element Solutions in the first quarter valued at $44,527,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Element Solutions in the second quarter valued at $5,668,000. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new position in Element Solutions in the second quarter valued at $613,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in Element Solutions by 16.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,061,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,485,000 after buying an additional 298,668 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ESI shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 2nd. Wolfe Research raised shares of Element Solutions from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Two 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.00.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

NYSE:ESI opened at $28.82 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $26.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.96, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.29. Element Solutions Inc has a 1-year low of $18.82 and a 1-year high of $29.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 2.77.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $645.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $626.52 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 11.08% and a return on equity of 14.42%. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 EPS. Analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.44 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.83%.

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.