Nebula Research & Development LLC Grows Stake in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Nebula Research & Development LLC increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) by 59.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 84,375 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,381 shares during the quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $2,146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 549.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,619,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,983,000 after buying an additional 1,369,981 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd purchased a new stake in Element Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at $29,818,000. Boston Partners acquired a new position in Element Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at $24,169,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Element Solutions during the fourth quarter worth about $13,573,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 510,332 shares in the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Element Solutions Stock Up 7.0 %

Shares of NYSE:ESI opened at $20.56 on Friday. Element Solutions Inc has a fifty-two week low of $16.77 and a fifty-two week high of $29.78. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.32. The company has a market cap of $4.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.16, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.28.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $593.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $576.73 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 14.68%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.34 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESI has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Element Solutions currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total value of $52,200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 109,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,847,510. The trade was a 94.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 7.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.