ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Receives $136.67 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $137.22.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ESAB shares. UBS Group raised ESAB from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $123.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on ESAB from $109.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird set a $143.00 target price on ESAB in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on ESAB from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on ESAB from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th.

Insider Activity at ESAB

In related news, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,417 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.15, for a total transaction of $185,839.55. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,965,807.35. This trade represents a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 7.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of ESAB

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ESAB. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in ESAB by 70.3% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 218 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in ESAB by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 682 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in ESAB by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 15,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,895,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its position in ESAB by 0.7% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 13,602 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,585,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in ESAB by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,999,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ESAB Stock Down 1.4%

ESAB stock opened at $123.20 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $119.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.51. ESAB has a fifty-two week low of $88.54 and a fifty-two week high of $135.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.82. The company has a market cap of $7.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.07. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 9.66%. The business had revenue of $678.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $633.66 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that ESAB will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. This is an increase from ESAB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.01%.

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.