Point72 DIFC Ltd Invests $721,000 in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 7,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $721,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESAB. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of ESAB by 14.2% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 147,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,908,000 after buying an additional 18,328 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in ESAB by 13.9% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 15,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,952 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in ESAB in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $384,000. XTX Topco Ltd raised its holdings in ESAB by 194.0% in the 2nd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 6,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $610,000 after acquiring an additional 4,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of ESAB during the 2nd quarter worth $1,768,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Stock Performance

Shares of ESAB stock opened at $105.16 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.59. The company has a market cap of $6.36 billion, a PE ratio of 27.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.42. ESAB Co. has a 52 week low of $61.43 and a 52 week high of $114.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.05. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 9.06%. The business had revenue of $707.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $686.75 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that ESAB Co. will post 4.84 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on ESAB. Bank of America increased their target price on ESAB from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of ESAB in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of ESAB from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of ESAB from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on ESAB from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.57.

About ESAB

ESAB Corporation engages in the formulation, development, manufacture, and supply of consumable products and equipment for use in cutting, joining, automated welding, and gas control equipment. Its comprehensive range of welding consumables includes electrodes, cored and solid wires, and fluxes using a range of specialty and other materials; and cutting consumables comprising electrodes, nozzles, shields, and tips.