Durable Capital Partners LP Makes New Investment in ESAB Corporation $ESAB

Durable Capital Partners LP acquired a new position in ESAB Corporation (NYSE:ESAB) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 979,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,067,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of ESAB by 8.4% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,387,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,158,000 after acquiring an additional 185,058 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of ESAB by 42.0% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,929,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,740,000 after acquiring an additional 570,895 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of ESAB by 101.5% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 880,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,605,000 after acquiring an additional 443,574 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of ESAB by 0.6% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 544,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,484,000 after acquiring an additional 3,368 shares during the period. Finally, Van Berkom & Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of ESAB by 8.3% during the first quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 332,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,680,000 after acquiring an additional 25,485 shares during the period. 91.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESAB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of ESAB from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $141.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of ESAB from $137.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of ESAB from $144.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of ESAB from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of ESAB from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.38.

Insider Activity at ESAB

In other ESAB news, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,440 shares of the firm’s 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 trade represents a 8.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.05, for a total transaction of $459,774.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 7,007 shares of company stock valued at $841,630. 7.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

ESAB Stock Performance

Shares of ESAB stock opened at $115.44 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $7.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.62, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.26. The company’s 50 day moving average is $122.15 and its 200 day moving average is $121.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. ESAB Corporation has a 52-week low of $93.15 and a 52-week high of $135.97.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $715.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $670.80 million. ESAB had a net margin of 9.36% and a return on equity of 16.32%. ESAB’s revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.32 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that ESAB Corporation will post 5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.