ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $93.75.

Several brokerages have commented on ESAB. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of ESAB from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of ESAB from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $111.00 to $125.00 in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of ESAB from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th.

ESAB Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of ESAB opened at $107.93 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.12, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.23. ESAB has a twelve month low of $55.37 and a twelve month high of $114.77.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $689.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $644.51 million. ESAB had a net margin of 7.40% and a return on equity of 17.57%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.05 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that ESAB will post 4.82 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th were paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at ESAB

In other ESAB news, Director Christopher M. Hix sold 7,465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.28, for a total transaction of $741,125.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 33,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,361,918.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Rajiv Vinnakota sold 856 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.50, for a total transaction of $85,172.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $674,510.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christopher M. Hix sold 7,465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.28, for a total transaction of $741,125.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 33,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,361,918.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,833 shares of company stock worth $1,074,985. 7.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of ESAB

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESAB. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 0.4% in the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 161,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,867,000 after buying an additional 689 shares during the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda now owns 1,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 494 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 120,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,458,000 after buying an additional 4,957 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 84.6% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 48,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,158,000 after buying an additional 22,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 221.3% in the fourth quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 10,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $944,000 after buying an additional 7,509 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Company 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.