ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Announces $0.08 Quarterly Dividend

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 18th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.08 per share on Friday, January 17th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st.

ESAB has a payout ratio of 5.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect ESAB to earn $5.38 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 5.9%.

ESAB Stock Down 3.9 %

NYSE ESAB traded down $5.07 on Wednesday, reaching $124.44. The company had a trading volume of 318,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 254,358. The company’s fifty day moving average is $122.86 and its 200-day moving average is $107.07. ESAB has a 1-year low of $82.44 and a 1-year high of $135.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.34. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.13. ESAB had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 17.27%. The company had revenue of $673.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $620.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. ESAB’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that ESAB will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at ESAB

In other news, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.96, for a total transaction of $7,269,395.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 53,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,627,789.92. The trade was a 52.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevin J. Johnson sold 5,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $630,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,429,125. This trade represents a 30.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 68,418 shares of company stock valued at $8,431,773 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of ESAB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on ESAB in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price objective for the company. Loop Capital increased their target price on ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.43.

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.