Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Shares Sold by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC reduced its holdings in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 457,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,400 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $11,622,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ESI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Element Solutions by 549.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,619,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,983,000 after acquiring an additional 1,369,981 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Element Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,818,000. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Element Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at about $24,169,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Element Solutions during the fourth quarter worth about $13,573,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Element Solutions by 63.3% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,316,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,472,000 after buying an additional 510,332 shares during the period. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Element Solutions news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total value of $52,200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 109,100 shares in the company, valued at $2,847,510. This trade represents a 94.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 7.90% of the company’s stock.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ESI opened at $18.73 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 3.34 and a quick ratio of 2.77. The company has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a PE ratio of 18.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.68. Element Solutions Inc has a 12 month low of $16.77 and a 12 month high of $29.78.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.35. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 9.94%. The company had revenue of $624.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $598.24 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESI has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Barclays dropped their price target on Element Solutions from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $29.00 to $24.00 in a report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.88.

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.