Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC Buys 325,297 Shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC boosted its position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI - Free Report) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,174,466 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 325,297 shares during the quarter. Element Solutions makes up about 2.8% of Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC owned approximately 1.31% of Element Solutions worth $80,727,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Element Solutions by 1.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Element Solutions by 4.2% during 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 grew its position 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,555,852 shares of the company's stock worth $90,456,000 after acquiring an additional 14,339 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Element Solutions by 80.4% in the 4th 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.32% of the company's stock.

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Element Solutions Stock Performance

NYSE ESI remained flat at $18.87 during trading on Tuesday. 992,491 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,816,489. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a PE ratio of 18.50, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.28. Element Solutions Inc has a 1 year low of $16.77 and a 1 year high of $29.78. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.73.

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

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

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 was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.37%.

Insider Activity

In other Element Solutions news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 109,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,847,510. This represents a 94.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 7.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on ESI shares. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded Element Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial raised Element Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $28.00 to $24.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Element Solutions from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $29.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $27.88.

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.