HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC Acquires Shares of 391,966 Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 391,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,968,000. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC owned about 0.16% of Element Solutions at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Advisory Research Inc. boosted its position in Element Solutions by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Research Inc. now owns 167,029 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,248,000 after buying an additional 20,470 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its stake in Element Solutions by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 626,450 shares of the company's stock worth $15,931,000 after purchasing an additional 67,344 shares in the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its holdings in Element Solutions by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 233,498 shares of the company's stock worth $5,938,000 after purchasing an additional 16,731 shares during the period. Walleye Trading LLC raised its position in Element Solutions by 1,156.9% during the 4th quarter. Walleye Trading LLC now owns 32,838 shares of the company's stock valued at $835,000 after purchasing an additional 35,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 77.1% in the 4th quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 24,409 shares of the company's stock worth $621,000 after buying an additional 10,630 shares during the period. 92.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial raised shares of Element Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America raised shares of Element Solutions from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $24.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Element Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Element Solutions has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $27.88.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of ESI stock traded up $0.84 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $19.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,960,413 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,897,563. The stock has a market cap of $4.78 billion, a PE ratio of 19.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.28. Element Solutions Inc has a 12-month low of $16.77 and a 12-month high of $29.78. The company has a 50 day moving average of $23.21 and a 200 day moving average of $25.40. The company has a current ratio of 3.34, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.35. The company had revenue of $624.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $598.24 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 9.94%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Element Solutions news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 109,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,847,510. This represents a 94.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 7.90% of the stock is currently owned by 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.