ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) Sets New 12-Month High at $108.71

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) shares reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $108.71 and last traded at $108.54, with a volume of 15472 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $107.57.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESAB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on ESAB from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of ESAB from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of ESAB from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $111.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of ESAB from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.75.

ESAB Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.77.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $689.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $644.51 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.57% and a net margin of 7.40%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that ESAB Co. will post 4.82 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be paid a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.14%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Christopher M. Hix sold 7,465 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.28, for a total value of $741,125.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 33,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,361,918.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other ESAB news, Director Didier P. Teirlinck sold 2,512 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.00, for a total transaction of $248,688.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 33,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,352,437. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher M. Hix sold 7,465 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.28, for a total transaction of $741,125.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 33,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,361,918.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,833 shares of company stock valued at $1,074,985 over the last quarter. 7.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of ESAB

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESAB. Huntington National Bank bought a new position in shares of ESAB during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 57.9% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 420 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of ESAB during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of ESAB during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 23.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

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.