Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Sells 103,600 Shares of Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 15.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 551,550 shares of the company’s stock after selling 103,600 shares during the quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned 0.23% of Element Solutions worth $13,883,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Element Solutions by 154.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares during the period. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Element Solutions during the second quarter worth about $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Element Solutions by 710.1% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,288 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,129 shares in the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Element Solutions during the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 6,693.1% in the 3rd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 1,970 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941 shares during the period. 92.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Element Solutions Stock Up 0.9%

NYSE ESI opened at $32.57 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.62. Element Solutions Inc. has a one year low of $16.77 and a one year high of $37.74. The firm has a market cap of $7.93 billion, a PE ratio of 41.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 3.68 and a quick ratio of 3.00.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $676.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $632.40 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 13.79% and a net margin of 7.48%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is currently 40.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ESI. Wall Street Zen raised Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. CJS Securities upgraded Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.75.

Insider Activity

In other Element Solutions news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 147,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,250,992.64. The trade was a 49.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Matthew Liebowitz sold 37,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total transaction of $984,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 117,393 shares in the company, valued at $3,122,653.80. The trade was a 23.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 6.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.