Bessemer Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Element Solutions Inc. $ESI

Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 18.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,465,218 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 230,277 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $36,615,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in Element Solutions by 126.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 115,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,908,000 after acquiring an additional 64,433 shares during the last quarter. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT grew its position in Element Solutions by 37.2% in the 4th 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Element Solutions by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,256,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,822,000 after purchasing an additional 139,751 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Element Solutions by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,195,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,609,000 after purchasing an additional 916,804 shares during the period. Finally, Peak Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Element Solutions by 282.4% in the 4th quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 79,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,994,000 after purchasing an additional 58,929 shares during the period. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director E Stanley Oneal sold 143,564 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.52, for a total transaction of $5,099,393.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 147,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,250,992.64. The trade was a 49.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 6.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Element Solutions Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of ESI stock opened at $42.34 on Friday. Element Solutions Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.80 and a 1 year high of $45.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $36.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The company has a market cap of $10.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.30, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.27.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.03. Element Solutions had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 14.19%. The firm had revenue of $840.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $710.51 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.34 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ESI shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.57.

Element Solutions 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.