Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Short Interest Up 164.3% in March

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,190,000 shares, a growth of 164.3% from the March 15th total of 2,720,000 shares. Approximately 3.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,060,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Element Solutions news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of Element Solutions stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,847,510. The trade was a 94.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 7.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Element Solutions

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ESI. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Element Solutions by 5.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,319,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,320,000 after purchasing an additional 230,793 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Element Solutions during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $374,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Element Solutions by 96.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 108,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,938,000 after buying an additional 52,973 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Element Solutions during the third quarter worth approximately $3,676,000. 92.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ESI. Bank of America raised shares of Element Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays reduced 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. StockNews.com cut Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Element Solutions from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Element Solutions from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.88.

Element Solutions Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ESI traded down $0.15 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $18.73. The company had a trading volume of 2,760,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,823,194. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $24.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.73. Element Solutions has a 1-year low of $16.77 and a 1-year high of $29.78. 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 stock has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a PE ratio of 18.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.28.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35. The company had revenue of $624.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $598.24 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 9.94%. Research analysts forecast that Element Solutions will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is 31.37%.

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.