Cetera Investment Advisers Has $1.81 Million Stock Holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 22.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,056 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,735 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in ESAB were worth $1,806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ESAB. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP raised its holdings in ESAB by 38.9% during the fourth quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 5,660 shares of the company's stock valued at $679,000 after buying an additional 1,585 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in ESAB by 83.1% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 9,077 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,089,000 after buying an additional 4,119 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in ESAB by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 116,856 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,016,000 after buying an additional 8,113 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new position in ESAB during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,970,000. Finally, Aristeia Capital L.L.C. bought a new position in ESAB during the fourth quarter valued at about $346,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESAB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on ESAB from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on ESAB from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on ESAB from $109.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group upgraded ESAB from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $123.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $143.00 price target on ESAB in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $137.22.

ESAB Price Performance

Shares of ESAB stock traded down $1.71 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $123.20. The company had a trading volume of 171,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 279,553. ESAB Co. has a 12 month low of $88.54 and a 12 month high of $135.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.52, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36. The firm's fifty day moving average is $119.39 and its 200 day moving average is $122.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.82.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $678.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $633.66 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 9.66%. ESAB's revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This is an increase from ESAB's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. ESAB's payout ratio is presently 9.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ESAB news, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,417 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.15, for a total transaction of $185,839.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 14,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,965,807.35. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 7.30% 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.