Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Invests $83,000 in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ESAB. Atria Investments Inc grew its position in ESAB by 41.5% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $758,000 after buying an additional 2,093 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. acquired a new position in ESAB during the third quarter worth about $278,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in ESAB by 7.7% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,964,000 after buying an additional 1,996 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 20.7% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seizert Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ESAB in the third quarter valued at about $1,817,000. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on ESAB shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of ESAB in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI raised shares of ESAB from an “underperform” rating to an “inline” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $122.00 to $120.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of ESAB from $135.00 to $133.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of ESAB from $131.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, ESAB has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.14.

ESAB Price Performance

ESAB stock opened at $121.98 on Tuesday. ESAB Co. has a 52-week low of $88.54 and a 52-week high of $135.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $122.43 and a 200-day moving average of $118.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.24, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.13. ESAB had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The company had revenue of $633.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.43 million. As a group, analysts predict that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. ESAB’s payout ratio is 7.41%.

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.