Headlands Technologies LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Headlands Technologies LLC cut its holdings in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 71.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,752 shares of the company's stock after selling 17,070 shares during the quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC's holdings in Element Solutions were worth $172,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Element Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Element Solutions by 610.7% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,130 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 971 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont acquired a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Element Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 98.8% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,910 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 949 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Element Solutions news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total transaction of $52,200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 109,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,847,510. This trade represents a 94.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 7.90% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ESI shares. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $28.00 price objective (down from $32.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Element Solutions in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. They set an "overweight" rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded Element Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Element Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.00.

Element Solutions Price Performance

Element Solutions stock traded down $1.52 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $17.86. The company had a trading volume of 952,637 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,970,915. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $24.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.90. Element Solutions Inc has a 1 year low of $16.77 and a 1 year high of $29.78. 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 company has a market capitalization of $4.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.