Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Purchases 124,226 Shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,102,355 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 124,226 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $53,463,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Element Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at about $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 during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont bought a new position in Element Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Element Solutions during the 4th quarter worth $48,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake 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. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total value of $52,200,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 109,100 shares in the company, valued at $2,847,510. This represents a 94.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 7.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on Element Solutions from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $29.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.00.

Element Solutions Stock Down 9.4 %

Shares of Element Solutions stock opened at $18.24 on Friday. Element Solutions Inc has a 52-week low of $17.72 and a 52-week high of $29.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.34. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.16. The firm has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a PE ratio of 17.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.28.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35. Element Solutions had a net margin of 9.94% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The business had revenue of $624.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $598.24 million. On average, analysts predict that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.37%.

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.