State of Michigan Retirement System Has $1.29 Million Holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

State of Michigan Retirement System cut its position in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,702 shares of the company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in ESAB were worth $1,294,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESAB. Whittier Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of ESAB by 302.6% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in ESAB in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of ESAB by 57.9% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 420 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of ESAB during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ESAB in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $103,000. 91.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESAB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on ESAB from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on ESAB from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of ESAB from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of ESAB in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of ESAB from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.57.

ESAB Stock Performance

ESAB stock opened at $103.22 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $6.24 billion, a PE ratio of 27.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.42. ESAB Co. has a 12-month low of $61.43 and a 12-month high of $114.77. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $97.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.88.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.05. ESAB had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.59%. The firm had revenue of $707.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $686.75 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that ESAB Co. will post 4.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.