Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Lowers Stock Position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lessened its holdings in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,004,392 shares of the company’s stock after selling 87,613 shares during the quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $127,262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Element Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 610.7% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 971 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Element Solutions during the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 98.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 77.5% during the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 911 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Element Solutions Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Element Solutions stock opened at $21.60 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.34, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Element Solutions Inc has a 12-month low of $16.77 and a 12-month high of $29.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.17, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.65.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The business had revenue of $593.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $576.73 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.34 EPS. Element Solutions’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is 26.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Element Solutions

In other Element Solutions news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total transaction of $52,200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 109,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,847,510. This represents a 94.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 7.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on ESI. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.38.

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.