Wall Street Zen Upgrades ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) to “Buy”

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on ESAB. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of ESAB from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $141.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of ESAB from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Roth Capital assumed coverage on shares of ESAB in a report on Friday, September 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $150.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of ESAB in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on ESAB from $144.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $143.33.

ESAB Stock Performance

NYSE ESAB opened at $114.36 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $120.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. ESAB has a 12-month low of $100.17 and a 12-month high of $135.85. The firm has a market cap of $6.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.23.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $727.85 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $663.57 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 15.93% and a net margin of 8.70%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. ESAB has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.200-5.30 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that ESAB will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at ESAB

In other ESAB news, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,067 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.05, for a total transaction of $459,774.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 7.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ESAB

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ESAB. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new position in ESAB in the third quarter worth $1,197,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 20,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,289,000 after buying an additional 2,025 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in shares of ESAB in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,989,000. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of ESAB by 33.9% in the 3rd quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 26,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,923,000 after buying an additional 6,624 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of ESAB in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,126,000. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About ESAB

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.