Short Interest in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) Decreases By 37.4%

Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 9,353,928 shares, a decline of 37.4% from the June 30th total of 14,942,159 shares. Approximately 4.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,608,646 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.1 days.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Element Solutions stock traded up $1.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $36.69. The stock had a trading volume of 3,968,182 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,644,974. The company has a 50-day moving average of $41.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $8.94 billion, a PE ratio of 49.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.23. Element Solutions has a fifty-two week low of $22.63 and a fifty-two week high of $49.25.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $977.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $873.19 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.88% and a net margin of 5.67%.Element Solutions’s revenue for the quarter was up 56.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Element Solutions will post 1.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is 43.24%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Element Solutions

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT lifted its stake in Element Solutions by 37.2% during the fourth quarter. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT now owns 264,211 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,603,000 after purchasing an additional 71,686 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,524,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,077,000 after purchasing an additional 174,228 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 45.2% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 189,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,767,000 after buying an additional 59,154 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,405,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,097,000 after buying an additional 123,244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 2,818.0% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 68,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,340,000 after buying an additional 66,194 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ESI. Wolfe Research set a $47.00 price objective on Element Solutions in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Element Solutions to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners restated a “buy” rating and issued a $49.00 price target on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.50.

About Element Solutions

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.