ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 616,500 shares, a decrease of 5.5% from the November 30th total of 652,700 shares. Approximately 1.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 276,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESAB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of ESAB in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price objective for the company. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $144.00 price objective (up previously from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research note on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered ESAB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $138.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.43.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.03, for a total value of $531,877.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.96, for a total value of $7,269,395.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,902 shares in the company, valued at $6,627,789.92. The trade was a 52.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 68,418 shares of company stock worth $8,431,773. 7.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESAB. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of ESAB by 6.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,196,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,512,000 after purchasing an additional 127,714 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in ESAB by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,900,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,001,000 after acquiring an additional 337,983 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of ESAB by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,692,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,028,000 after acquiring an additional 55,458 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of ESAB by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,160,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,353,000 after acquiring an additional 190,583 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of ESAB by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,081,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,989,000 after purchasing an additional 271,459 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of ESAB stock traded down $0.25 on Wednesday, hitting $119.94. 152,624 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 254,981. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company has a market cap of $7.25 billion, a PE ratio of 28.09, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $125.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $109.00. ESAB has a 52 week low of $82.44 and a 52 week high of $135.97.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $620.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. ESAB’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that ESAB will post 4.94 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. ESAB’s payout ratio is 7.49%.

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.