Ethic Inc. Acquires 2,914 Shares of ESAB Corporation $ESAB

Ethic Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ESAB Corporation (NYSE:ESAB) by 24.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 14,826 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,914 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in ESAB were worth $1,789,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ESAB. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of ESAB by 37.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in shares of ESAB during the first quarter valued at approximately $590,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of ESAB by 3.5% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 14,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,729,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in shares of ESAB by 31.4% during the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 15,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,766,000 after buying an additional 3,623 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shilanski & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of ESAB by 4.7% during the first quarter. Shilanski & Associates Inc. now owns 19,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,318,000 after buying an additional 889 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESAB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on ESAB from $125.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Zacks Research lowered ESAB from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on ESAB from $144.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered ESAB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded ESAB from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $141.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $143.11.

Insider Transactions at ESAB

In other ESAB news, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,067 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.05, for a total transaction of $459,774.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,440 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.49, for a total value of $192,225.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 14,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,000,881.61. This represents a 8.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 7.30% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Stock Down 2.8%

ESAB stock opened at $119.92 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 market capitalization of $7.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.69, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.23. ESAB Corporation has a 1-year low of $100.17 and a 1-year high of $135.97. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $115.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $120.06.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 9.36%.The company had revenue of $715.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $670.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that ESAB Corporation will post 5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. ESAB’s payout ratio is currently 9.57%.

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.