Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Short Interest Down 5.8% in November

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,620,000 shares, a decrease of 5.8% from the October 31st total of 1,720,000 shares. Currently, 0.7% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,340,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Element Solutions

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ESI. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Element Solutions during the 2nd quarter worth $1,518,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Element Solutions in the second quarter worth $5,668,000. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new position in Element Solutions in the second quarter valued at about $613,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Element Solutions during the third quarter worth about $1,161,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Element Solutions by 40.4% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 172,000 shares of the company's stock worth $4,672,000 after buying an additional 49,466 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company's stock.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of ESI stock traded down $0.59 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $27.88. 994,805 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,365,113. Element Solutions has a 52 week low of $20.31 and a 52 week high of $29.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.12, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.28. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $27.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.52.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $645.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $626.52 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.42% and a net margin of 11.08%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Element Solutions will post 1.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Element Solutions's dividend payout ratio is currently 28.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Element Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Element Solutions from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Element Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, November 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.00.

Element Solutions Company 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.