Short Interest in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Increases By 43.8%

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) saw a large increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,120,000 shares, an increase of 43.8% from the August 31st total of 778,900 shares. Approximately 2.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 238,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ESAB. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on ESAB from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on ESAB in a report on Thursday, June 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of ESAB from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of ESAB from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on ESAB from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $113.67.

ESAB Stock Performance

ESAB traded down $0.44 during trading on Friday, reaching $106.51. 148,418 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 247,932. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 1.21. ESAB has a 1 year low of $61.43 and a 1 year high of $114.77. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.42.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $707.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $686.75 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 9.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that ESAB will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.38%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ESAB

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ESAB. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in ESAB by 11.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,424,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $710,316,000 after purchasing an additional 653,377 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in ESAB during the first quarter worth approximately $33,811,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in ESAB by 2,277.5% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 93,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,359,000 after buying an additional 89,826 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in ESAB in the 2nd quarter valued at $8,277,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ESAB in the 1st quarter worth $6,174,000. 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.