FORA Capital LLC Cuts Stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

FORA Capital LLC trimmed its stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 31.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,549 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,106 shares during the quarter. FORA Capital LLC’s holdings in ESAB were worth $484,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Townsquare Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of ESAB in the 3rd quarter worth about $203,000. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP raised its holdings in ESAB by 6.9% in the third quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 30,204 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,211,000 after buying an additional 1,939 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in ESAB by 6.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,196,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,512,000 after buying an additional 127,714 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of ESAB by 33.5% in the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,081,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,989,000 after acquiring an additional 271,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of ESAB by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 517,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,996,000 after acquiring an additional 8,235 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:ESAB opened at $128.26 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.04, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.37. ESAB Co. has a 1-year low of $76.08 and a 1-year high of $135.97. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $116.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $104.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.92.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.13. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.27% and a net margin of 9.47%. The business had revenue of $673.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $620.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. ESAB’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that ESAB Co. will post 4.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is 7.49%.

Insider Activity at ESAB

In other ESAB news, CFO Kevin J. Johnson sold 5,044 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total transaction of $630,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 11,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,429,125. This represents a 30.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.96, for a total transaction of $7,269,395.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,627,789.92. This trade represents a 52.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 68,418 shares of company stock valued at $8,431,773. 7.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESAB has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered ESAB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Loop Capital boosted their price target on ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $144.00 target price (up from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of ESAB from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ESAB has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $124.14.

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.