Element Solutions Inc. $ESI Shares Purchased by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 84,024 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 13,696 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $1,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ESI. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 110.0% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 59,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,336,000 after acquiring an additional 30,953 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Element Solutions by 11.1% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 104,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,358,000 after purchasing an additional 10,456 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Element Solutions by 7.1% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 10,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 681 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in Element Solutions by 479.7% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 67,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 55,933 shares during the period. Finally, Peregrine Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 674,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,244,000 after buying an additional 14,748 shares during the period. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America raised their target price on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Fermium Researc raised shares of Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.75.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

ESI opened at $26.12 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.24. Element Solutions Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.77 and a 52-week high of $29.78. The company has a market cap of $6.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.12, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $625.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $587.45 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 14.14%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.00%.

Insider Transactions at Element Solutions

In other news, EVP Matthew Liebowitz sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.55, for a total value of $1,327,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 57,353 shares in the company, valued at $1,522,722.15. This represents a 46.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John Edward Capps sold 77,674 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.77, for a total transaction of $2,079,332.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 609,790 shares in the company, valued at $16,324,078.30. The trade was a 11.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 168,399 shares of company stock valued at $4,492,561 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 6.90% of the company’s stock.

About Element Solutions

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.