Swiss National Bank Lowers Stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Swiss National Bank lessened its holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 112,100 shares of the company’s stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.19% of ESAB worth $11,917,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in ESAB during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of ESAB by 55.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of ESAB by 629.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 529 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in ESAB in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $92,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in ESAB by 181.7% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 812 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESAB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered ESAB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $138.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Evercore ISI cut shares of ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $144.00 price objective (up previously from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of ESAB from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $124.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ESAB news, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.96, for a total transaction of $7,269,395.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 53,902 shares in the company, valued at $6,627,789.92. This trade represents a 52.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kevin J. Johnson sold 5,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total transaction of $630,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,429,125. This trade represents a 30.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 68,418 shares of company stock worth $8,431,773. 7.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

ESAB Stock Up 1.7 %

ESAB opened at $127.54 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.92. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $114.48 and its 200 day moving average is $104.39. ESAB Co. has a fifty-two week low of $76.08 and a fifty-two week high of $135.97.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $673.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $620.50 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.27% and a net margin of 9.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that ESAB Co. will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.49%.

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.