Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) Short Interest Up 29.9% in August

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,300,000 shares, a growth of 29.9% from the August 15th total of 3,310,000 shares. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,450,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ESI shares. Mizuho boosted their price target on Element Solutions from $21.00 to $22.00 in a report on Friday, July 28th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Element Solutions in a report on Tuesday, June 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $23.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Element Solutions in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.21.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 47.8% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 32.1% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 0.7% during the first quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 98,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,903,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Donoghue Forlines LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Element Solutions by 3.9% during the first quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 19,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.05% of the company’s stock.

Element Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESI traded down $0.27 on Friday, hitting $19.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,402,048 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,594,969. Element Solutions has a 12 month low of $15.31 and a 12 month high of $21.90. The company has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $20.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 2.44 and a current ratio of 3.32.

Element Solutions (NYSE:ESI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. Element Solutions had a return on equity of 13.13% and a net margin of 5.90%. The business had revenue of $586.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $611.13 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Element Solutions will post 1.3 EPS for the current year.

Element Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, September 1st were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 31st. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. Element Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.14%.

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.