Short Interest in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Decreases By 7.5%

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,470,000 shares, a drop of 7.5% from the November 30th total of 1,590,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,350,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.1 days. Currently, 0.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ESI shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com raised Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Barclays increased their target price on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.40.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Element Solutions

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Element Solutions by 149.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,934,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,698,000 after purchasing an additional 2,355,554 shares during the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 162.7% during the third quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 2,470,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,085,000 after buying an additional 1,529,607 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 549.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,619,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,983,000 after buying an additional 1,369,981 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Element Solutions in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,364,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in Element Solutions during the 3rd quarter worth about $21,889,000. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Element Solutions Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:ESI traded down $0.08 on Wednesday, hitting $25.43. The stock had a trading volume of 789,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,346,815. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $27.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.65. The stock has a market cap of $6.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.91, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Element Solutions has a 1-year low of $21.42 and a 1-year high of $29.78.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.42% and a net margin of 11.08%. The company had revenue of $645.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $626.52 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Element Solutions will post 1.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.83%.

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.