Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Invests $1.95 Million in Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 76,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,947,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 455.9% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 49,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,353,000 after acquiring an additional 40,986 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Element Solutions by 6.7% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 103,985 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,820,000 after purchasing an additional 6,546 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Element Solutions by 39.4% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 864 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 372.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 103,136 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,798,000 after purchasing an additional 81,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Element Solutions by 149.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,934,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,698,000 after purchasing an additional 2,355,554 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on ESI shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Element Solutions from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Element Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Element Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Wolfe Research raised Element Solutions from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Element Solutions from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Three investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.83.

Element Solutions Price Performance

NYSE:ESI opened at $26.13 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $26.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.49. Element Solutions Inc has a 1-year low of $21.42 and a 1-year high of $29.78. The firm has a market cap of $6.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 2.77.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $645.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $626.52 million. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 14.42% and a net margin of 11.08%. Element Solutions’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Element Solutions Inc will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. Element Solutions’s payout ratio is 28.83%.

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.