Element Solutions Inc. $ESI Shares Sold by Fenimore Asset Management Inc

Fenimore Asset Management Inc lowered its stake in shares of Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ESI) by 30.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 236,025 shares of the company’s stock after selling 101,733 shares during the period. Fenimore Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $8,563,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESI. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Element Solutions during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,317,663,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Element Solutions in the second quarter valued at approximately $110,892,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 36.7% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,977,958 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,667,000 after purchasing an additional 798,923 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,405,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,097,000 after purchasing an additional 123,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 8.9% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,221,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,841,000 after purchasing an additional 180,898 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Monday, September 21st. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $45.50.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESI traded down $0.48 during trading on Thursday, hitting $36.69. 4,353,879 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,785,787. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 2.91 and a quick ratio of 2.11. Element Solutions Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.86 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The company has a market cap of $8.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.59, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $35.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.74.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.04. Element Solutions had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 14.88%. The business had revenue of $977.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $873.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.20 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 56.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Element Solutions Inc. will post 1.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 1st. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.24%.

Element Solutions Profile

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE: ESI) is a specialty chemicals company that develops and manufactures products used in electronics, industrial processes, and other specialized applications. Its materials and process solutions are designed to improve manufacturing performance, product reliability, and surface protection across a range of end markets.

The company’s Electronics segment supplies chemicals, materials, and equipment used in printed circuit board fabrication, semiconductor packaging, and other electronic component manufacturing.