ESAB Corporation $ESAB Shares Bought by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of ESAB Corporation (NYSE:ESAB) by 0.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,000 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in ESAB were worth $1,929,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of ESAB by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 916,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,551,000 after purchasing an additional 3,483 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ESAB during the 2nd quarter worth about $215,000. Hudson Value Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of ESAB by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 45,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,514,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of ESAB by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 7,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $864,000 after purchasing an additional 988 shares during the period. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ESAB during the 2nd quarter worth about $203,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Stock Performance

Shares of ESAB opened at $116.11 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $113.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $119.50. ESAB Corporation has a 52-week low of $100.17 and a 52-week high of $135.97. The firm has a market cap of $7.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

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

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ESAB. Loop Capital upgraded ESAB from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $130.00 to $140.00 in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on ESAB from $144.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded ESAB from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $141.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on ESAB from $137.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of ESAB in a report on Wednesday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, ESAB has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $141.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,067 shares of the company’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 transaction of $459,774.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,440 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.49, for a total value of $192,225.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 14,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,000,881.61. This represents a 8.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 7.30% of the company’s stock.

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.