Ethic Inc. Grows Stock Position in ESAB Corporation $ESAB

Ethic Inc. raised its stake in shares of ESAB Corporation (NYSE:ESAB) by 24.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,826 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,914 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in ESAB were worth $1,789,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of ESAB by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 15,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,852,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its stake in shares of ESAB by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 13,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,585,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in shares of ESAB by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 21,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,551,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of ESAB by 37.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of ESAB by 204.8% in the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ESAB shares. Oppenheimer cut their price target on ESAB from $144.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Loop Capital upgraded ESAB from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $130.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Zacks Research lowered ESAB from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of ESAB in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered ESAB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $143.11.

Insider Activity at ESAB

In other news, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,440 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.49, for a total transaction of $192,225.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 14,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,000,881.61. The trade was a 8.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,067 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.05, for a total value of $459,774.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 7.30% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Price Performance

NYSE:ESAB opened at $119.92 on Friday. ESAB Corporation has a 12 month low of $100.17 and a 12 month high of $135.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $115.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $120.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of $7.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.23.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $715.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $670.80 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 9.36%.ESAB’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.32 EPS. On average, analysts expect that ESAB Corporation will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 3rd. ESAB’s payout ratio is currently 9.57%.

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.