ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Shares Sold by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP decreased its holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 16.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,305,543 shares of the company's stock after selling 262,426 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 2.16% of ESAB worth $156,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in ESAB in the 4th quarter valued at $81,199,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ESAB in the 4th quarter worth $52,281,000. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 104.3% in the fourth quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 839,685 shares of the company's stock valued at $100,712,000 after acquiring an additional 428,770 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 21.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,900,115 shares of the company's stock valued at $202,001,000 after acquiring an additional 337,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of ESAB by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,097,624 shares of the company's stock worth $251,589,000 after acquiring an additional 318,018 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.13% of the company's stock.

ESAB Price Performance

ESAB stock traded up $1.37 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $119.87. The stock had a trading volume of 384,919 shares, compared to its average volume of 279,194. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.75, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.25. ESAB Co. has a 1-year low of $88.54 and a 1-year high of $135.97. The stock's fifty day moving average is $117.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $121.34.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $633.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $636.43 million. ESAB had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 17.43%. As a group, analysts predict that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. ESAB's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESAB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of ESAB from $125.00 to $109.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group raised ESAB from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $123.00 to $147.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on ESAB from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised ESAB from an "underperform" rating to an "inline" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $122.00 to $120.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $133.75.

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.