Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Element Solutions Put Options (NYSE:ESI)

Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 7,009 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 207% compared to the average daily volume of 2,285 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Element Solutions news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.52, for a total value of $5,099,393.28. Following the transaction, the director owned 147,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,250,992.64. This represents a 49.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Element Solutions

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,119,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,889,000 after purchasing an additional 1,298,273 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,485,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,053,000 after buying an additional 228,416 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,161,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,968,000 after buying an additional 83,033 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Element Solutions by 43.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,069,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,660,000 after buying an additional 2,146,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its stake in Element Solutions by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,089,359 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,183,000 after buying an additional 621,448 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ESI shares. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Wednesday. Freedom Capital upgraded Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on Element Solutions to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Element Solutions has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $39.57.

Element Solutions Stock Down 1.5%

NYSE:ESI traded down $0.62 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $39.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 269,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,910,998. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The company has a market cap of $9.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.27. Element Solutions has a one year low of $20.80 and a one year high of $45.51. The business’s 50-day moving average is $37.30 and its 200-day moving average is $31.59.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.03. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.19% and a net margin of 5.32%.The company had revenue of $840.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $710.51 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 41.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Element Solutions will post 1.78 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.61%.

Element Solutions Company Profile

Element Solutions Inc is a global specialty chemicals company that develops and supplies highly engineered chemistries to performance-driven end markets. The company’s solutions serve customers across the electronics, energy, transportation, consumer and industrial sectors, with a particular emphasis on electronics chemicals, metal plating, and industrial coatings additives.

In the electronics market, Element Solutions provides a range of plating and surface-treatment chemistries used in the manufacture of printed circuit boards, semiconductor devices, and advanced display technologies.