KBC Group NV Purchases 263 Shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

KBC Group NV raised its position in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 20.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,531 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 263 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in ESAB were worth $163,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC boosted its position in ESAB by 7.1% during the second quarter. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC now owns 2,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $203,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in ESAB by 55.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased its stake in ESAB by 8.5% in the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 2,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of ESAB by 5.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $362,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of ESAB by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ESAB. Evercore ISI cut ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $122.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $144.00 price objective (up from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a report on Friday, November 8th. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on ESAB from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $124.14.

ESAB Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESAB opened at $122.01 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.92. ESAB Co. has a fifty-two week low of $76.08 and a fifty-two week high of $135.97. The stock has a market cap of $7.38 billion, a PE ratio of 28.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $113.34 and a 200-day moving average of $104.10.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $673.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $620.50 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.27% and a net margin of 9.47%. ESAB’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that ESAB Co. will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. ESAB’s payout ratio is currently 7.49%.

Insider Transactions at ESAB

In other news, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.03, for a total value of $531,877.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,627,789.92. This represents a 52.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 68,418 shares of company stock valued at $8,431,773 in the last three months. 7.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.