Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 59,080 Shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 29.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 139,934 shares of the company’s stock after selling 59,080 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in ESAB were worth $14,876,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC increased its position in ESAB by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC now owns 2,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $203,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in ESAB by 55.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased its position in ESAB by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 2,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in ESAB by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in ESAB by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Stock Performance

ESAB stock opened at $124.17 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.37. ESAB Co. has a 1 year low of $76.08 and a 1 year high of $135.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $111.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.72.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $673.00 million for 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that ESAB Co. will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on ESAB. Loop Capital increased their target price on ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America increased their target price on ESAB from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $144.00 target price (up from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.96, for a total value of $7,269,395.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,627,789.92. This trade represents a 52.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 68,418 shares of company stock valued at $8,431,773. 7.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.