Proficio Capital Partners LLC Takes $423,000 Position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 16,631 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $423,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 5,209,130 shares of the company's stock worth $132,468,000 after purchasing an additional 209,441 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,319,570 shares of the company's stock worth $117,320,000 after buying an additional 230,793 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Element Solutions by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,541,513 shares of the company's stock valued at $96,216,000 after buying an additional 18,791 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its position in Element Solutions by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 2,562,889 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,174,000 after buying an additional 19,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP boosted its holdings in Element Solutions by 162.7% in the third quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 2,470,003 shares of the company's stock worth $67,085,000 after acquiring an additional 1,529,607 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

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Insider Activity at Element Solutions

In other Element Solutions news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 109,100 shares in the company, valued at $2,847,510. This represents a 94.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 7.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $28.00 price target (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. They set a "hold" rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on 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, StockNews.com lowered Element Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Element Solutions has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $30.14.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Element Solutions stock traded down $0.68 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $24.93. 2,146,355 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,593,652. Element Solutions Inc has a 12-month low of $23.10 and a 12-month high of $29.78. The business's 50-day moving average is $25.79 and its 200-day moving average is $26.34. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $6.04 billion, a PE ratio of 24.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.29.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.35. The firm had revenue of $624.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $598.24 million. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 14.68%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Element Solutions's payout ratio is 31.37%.

Element Solutions Profile

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.