Marshall Wace LLP Trims Position in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Marshall Wace LLP trimmed its position in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,073,297 shares of the company’s stock after selling 418,671 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $78,154,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 96.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 108,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,938,000 after acquiring an additional 52,973 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Element Solutions by 0.5% during the 3rd 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 period. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Element Solutions in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,676,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Element Solutions by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 51,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,394,000 after purchasing an additional 4,971 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 45,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after buying an additional 3,224 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Element Solutions Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of ESI stock opened at $18.62 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a PE ratio of 18.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.28. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.63. Element Solutions Inc has a 1 year low of $16.77 and a 1 year high of $29.78.

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

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid 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 1.72%. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Element Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $24.00 in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays cut their price objective on Element Solutions from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial upgraded Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Element Solutions presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.