Royce & Associates LP Has $86.65 Million Stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Royce & Associates LP trimmed its stake in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 722,442 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,310 shares during the quarter. ESAB comprises approximately 0.8% of Royce & Associates LP’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in ESAB were worth $86,650,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in shares of ESAB by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $476,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new position in ESAB in the fourth quarter worth $1,928,000. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in ESAB by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 112,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,541,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of ESAB by 70.3% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 218 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of ESAB by 122.3% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 4,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $544,000 after buying an additional 2,495 shares during the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

ESAB Stock Performance

Shares of ESAB stock opened at $120.21 on Friday. ESAB Co. has a 12-month low of $88.54 and a 12-month high of $135.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $118.18.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $636.43 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is 7.41%.

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.