Wall Street Zen Downgrades Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) to Hold

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on ESI. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Element Solutions from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group increased their price target on Element Solutions from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. CJS Securities raised Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Element Solutions has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $35.75.

Element Solutions Stock Down 2.4%

ESI opened at $31.05 on Friday. Element Solutions has a twelve month low of $16.77 and a twelve month high of $37.74. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $31.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.95. The stock has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.30, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 3.00, a current ratio of 3.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Element Solutions

In other news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was 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 in the company, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Element Solutions by 43.6% during the fourth 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 period. Scopus Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 134.6% in the second quarter. Scopus Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,426,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,965,691 shares during the period. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP grew its stake in Element Solutions by 61.7% during the second quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 4,656,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,465,000 after acquiring an additional 1,777,265 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in Element Solutions by 253.4% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,349,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,146,000 after acquiring an additional 1,684,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jain Global LLC increased its holdings in Element Solutions by 253.3% during the 4th quarter. Jain Global LLC now owns 2,127,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,161,000 after acquiring an additional 1,525,195 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

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.