ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $133.43.

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on ESAB in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded ESAB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $144.00 target price (up from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a report on Friday, November 8th.

ESAB Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of ESAB stock opened at $122.12 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $107.30. ESAB has a fifty-two week low of $82.44 and a fifty-two week high of $135.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.34.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $620.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ESAB will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.49%.

Insider Transactions at ESAB

In other ESAB news, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.96, for a total value of $7,269,395.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 53,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,627,789.92. This represents a 52.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.03, for a total transaction of $531,877.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 68,418 shares of company stock valued at $8,431,773 over the last three months. 7.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of ESAB by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,196,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,512,000 after purchasing an additional 127,714 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in ESAB by 3.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,692,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,028,000 after buying an additional 55,458 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in ESAB by 19.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,160,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,353,000 after acquiring an additional 190,583 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in ESAB by 33.5% in the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,081,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,989,000 after acquiring an additional 271,459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP lifted its stake in ESAB by 8.6% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 749,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,706,000 after acquiring an additional 59,447 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.