California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 35,711 Shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its holdings in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 424,115 shares of the company's stock after selling 35,711 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.18% of Element Solutions worth $10,785,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Element Solutions by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,244,795 shares of the company's stock worth $565,685,000 after buying an additional 249,280 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 209,441 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 5.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,319,570 shares of the company's stock worth $117,320,000 after acquiring an additional 230,793 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Element Solutions by 0.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,541,513 shares of the company's stock valued at $96,216,000 after purchasing an additional 18,791 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Element Solutions by 80.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,921,021 shares of the company's stock valued at $74,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,301,602 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total transaction of $52,200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 109,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,847,510. The trade was a 94.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 7.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $28.00 price target (down from $32.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Element Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $29.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target 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. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Element Solutions has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $30.00.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

ESI traded up $0.21 during trading on Friday, hitting $18.22. The stock had a trading volume of 2,986,754 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,808,307. The firm has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a PE ratio of 17.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.28. 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 Inc has a 12 month low of $16.77 and a 12 month high of $29.78. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.79.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $624.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $598.24 million. Analysts expect that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.76%. 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.