Yousif Capital Management LLC Decreases Stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Yousif Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 2.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,543 shares of the company’s stock after selling 560 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in ESAB were worth $2,277,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of ESAB by 70.3% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in ESAB during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of ESAB during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of ESAB by 1,128.9% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 467 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of ESAB by 323.8% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 534 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESAB has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of ESAB from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on ESAB from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group raised ESAB from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $123.00 to $147.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Robert W. Baird set a $143.00 price objective on ESAB in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on ESAB from $109.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ESAB currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.22.

Insider Activity at ESAB

In related news, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,417 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.15, for a total transaction of $185,839.55. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,965,807.35. The trade was a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.42, for a total transaction of $189,630.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 7.30% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of ESAB stock opened at $123.85 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $88.54 and a 1-year high of $135.97. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $121.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.12. The company has a market capitalization of $7.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.67, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.31.

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

ESAB Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This is a boost from ESAB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.01%.

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.