Ameriprise Financial Inc. Lowers Stock Position in ESAB Corporation $ESAB

Key Points

• Ameriprise Financial Inc. reduced its stake in ESAB Corporation by 16.9%, now holding approximately 1.07% of the company valued at $75.76 million after selling 132,163 shares in the first quarter.
• Analysts show mixed sentiments on ESAB, with Oppenheimer reducing their target price from $144 to $142 while others like Stifel Nicolaus upgraded the stock to a "buy" rating with a price target of $141.
• ESAB reported $1.36 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing expectations and demonstrating a 1.3% year-over-year revenue increase to $715.59 million.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. decreased its position in ESAB Corporation (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 16.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 650,344 shares of the company's stock after selling 132,163 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 1.07% of ESAB worth $75,765,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESAB. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of ESAB by 3.5% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 14,844 shares of the company's stock worth $1,729,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of ESAB by 37.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 756 shares of the company's stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of ESAB by 38.3% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 61,466 shares of the company's stock worth $7,161,000 after purchasing an additional 17,027 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in shares of ESAB during the first quarter worth about $590,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of ESAB by 57.2% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 23,666 shares of the company's stock worth $2,757,000 after purchasing an additional 8,610 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at ESAB

In other news, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,440 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.49, for a total transaction of $192,225.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 14,989 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,000,881.61. The trade was a 8.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,067 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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. Insiders have sold a total of 7,007 shares of company stock valued at $841,630 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of ESAB from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of ESAB from $144.00 to $142.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of ESAB from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $141.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of ESAB from $137.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of ESAB from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $140.38.

ESAB Trading Down 1.2%

ESAB traded down $1.38 during trading on Friday, hitting $115.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 323,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 566,741. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $122.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.49. 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 cap of $7.01 billion, a PE ratio of 27.62, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.27. ESAB Corporation has a twelve month low of $93.15 and a twelve month high of $135.97.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $715.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $670.80 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 9.36%.ESAB's revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.32 EPS. On average, analysts expect that ESAB Corporation will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

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.