Cetera Investment Advisers Grows Stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 22.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,056 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,735 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in ESAB were worth $1,806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in ESAB by 21.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,900,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,001,000 after buying an additional 337,983 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in ESAB during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP grew its position in shares of ESAB by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 32,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,931,000 after purchasing an additional 2,571 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc grew its position in shares of ESAB by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 9,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,113,000 after purchasing an additional 2,147 shares during the period. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new stake in shares of ESAB in the fourth quarter valued at $254,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of ESAB opened at $129.60 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $118.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.45. The stock has a market cap of $7.86 billion, a PE ratio of 30.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36. ESAB Co. has a 12 month low of $88.54 and a 12 month high of $135.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $678.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $633.66 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 9.66%. ESAB’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This is a positive change from ESAB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is 9.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESAB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on ESAB from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on ESAB from $109.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group raised ESAB from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $123.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on ESAB from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $143.00 target price on ESAB in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.22.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,417 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.15, for a total transaction of $185,839.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,965,807.35. The trade was a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 7.30% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Profile

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.