Short Interest in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Rises By 7.8%

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,860,000 shares, a growth of 7.8% from the March 31st total of 3,580,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,290,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Element Solutions Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ESI opened at $23.32 on Thursday. Element Solutions has a 12-month low of $17.53 and a 12-month high of $25.81. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.35. The company has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a PE ratio of 43.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 3.63, a quick ratio of 2.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $575.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $588.17 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 13.96% and a net margin of 5.62%. The business’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.30 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Element Solutions will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is 59.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Benjamin Gliklich sold 61,667 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total transaction of $1,430,674.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 704,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,341,964. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Element Solutions news, EVP Michael Goralski sold 1,169 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total transaction of $27,120.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 146,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,394,090.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Benjamin Gliklich sold 61,667 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total value of $1,430,674.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 704,395 shares in the company, valued at $16,341,964. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 97,203 shares of company stock valued at $2,255,110. Insiders own 7.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESI. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 47.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,403,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,362,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412,706 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,719,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $445,523,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035,756 shares in the last quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 35.2% in the 4th quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC now owns 3,762,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,067,000 after purchasing an additional 979,798 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 10,622.4% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 848,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,636,000 after purchasing an additional 840,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,232,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $377,154,000 after purchasing an additional 798,662 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Element Solutions from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Element Solutions from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. TheStreet upgraded Element Solutions from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Element Solutions in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Element Solutions from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.00.

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.