Driehaus Capital Management LLC Invests $36.42 Million in ESAB Corporation $ESAB

Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of ESAB Corporation (NYSE:ESAB) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 312,574 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,415,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its holdings in ESAB by 0.7% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 13,602 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,585,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of ESAB by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 15,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,852,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in ESAB by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $319,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in ESAB by 37.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 756 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in ESAB by 204.8% in the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESAB opened at $116.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $122.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $121.55. ESAB Corporation has a 1-year low of $93.15 and a 1-year high of $135.97. The company has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a PE ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.27.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. ESAB had a net margin of 9.36% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $715.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $670.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.32 EPS. ESAB’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that ESAB Corporation will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on ESAB. Zacks Research lowered ESAB from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on ESAB from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of ESAB from $144.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird set a $143.00 target price on shares of ESAB in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of ESAB from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $141.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ESAB currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.38.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.05, for a total value of $459,774.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,440 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.49, for a total value of $192,225.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 14,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,000,881.61. This represents a 8.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,007 shares of company stock valued at $841,630 over the last three months. 7.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.