Short Interest in Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) Declines By 37.4%

Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 9,353,928 shares, a decrease of 37.4% from the June 30th total of 14,942,159 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 8,608,646 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.1 days. Currently, 4.1% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Element Solutions

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ESI. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 151.0% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 778 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 468 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Element Solutions in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in Element Solutions by 57.4% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 949 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Element Solutions during the 3rd quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new stake in Element Solutions during the third quarter valued at about $49,000. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price target (down from $54.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Seaport Research Partners reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $49.00 price target on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wolfe Research set a $47.00 price objective on Element Solutions in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $43.50.

Element Solutions Stock Up 2.5%

NYSE ESI traded up $0.87 during trading on Thursday, hitting $35.66. 4,579,239 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,642,727. Element Solutions has a 12 month low of $22.63 and a 12 month high of $49.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.14. The company has a market capitalization of $8.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.19, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.91, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $977.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $873.19 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.88% and a net margin of 5.67%.The firm’s revenue was up 56.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Element Solutions will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.61%.

Element Solutions Company 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.