Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 10,802 Shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 63,007 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,802 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Element Solutions were worth $1,711,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 149.2% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,934,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,698,000 after buying an additional 2,355,554 shares during the period. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP lifted its holdings in Element Solutions by 162.7% in the third quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 2,470,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,085,000 after acquiring an additional 1,529,607 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,364,000. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Element Solutions during the 3rd quarter valued at about $21,889,000. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in shares of Element Solutions by 14.7% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,289,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,458,000 after purchasing an additional 676,432 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Element Solutions Price Performance

NYSE:ESI opened at $25.32 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.63. Element Solutions Inc has a 52 week low of $21.42 and a 52 week high of $29.78. The stock has a market cap of $6.13 billion, a PE ratio of 22.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

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

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is 28.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ESI. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective 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. Wolfe Research raised Element Solutions from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised Element Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $31.40.

Element Solutions 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.