Short Interest in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Increases By 72.2%

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,720,000 shares, an increase of 72.2% from the February 28th total of 1,580,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.1 days. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Element Solutions from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 price target (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Element Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Element Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. They set a “hold” rating and a $28.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total transaction of $52,200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 109,100 shares in the company, valued at $2,847,510. The trade was a 94.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 7.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Element Solutions by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,244,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $565,685,000 after acquiring an additional 249,280 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted 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 valued at $132,468,000 after buying an additional 209,441 shares during the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Element Solutions by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 5,026,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,825,000 after buying an additional 146,570 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Element Solutions by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,319,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,320,000 after buying an additional 230,793 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,555,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,456,000 after acquiring an additional 14,339 shares during the last quarter. 92.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Element Solutions Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ESI traded down $0.65 on Friday, hitting $22.96. The company had a trading volume of 2,691,842 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,691,909. Element Solutions has a 1 year low of $22.71 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Element Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.