Cooke & Bieler LP Sells 92,241 Shares of ESAB Corporation (NYSE:ESAB)

Cooke & Bieler LP lowered its position in ESAB Corporation (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 10.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 772,551 shares of the company's stock after selling 92,241 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP owned 1.27% of ESAB worth $90,002,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in ESAB by 70.3% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 218 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in ESAB by 204.8% in the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 320 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in ESAB in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in ESAB by 1,128.9% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 467 shares of the company's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in ESAB by 323.8% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 534 shares of the company's stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on ESAB. Robert W. Baird set a $143.00 target price on shares of ESAB in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group raised shares of ESAB from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $123.00 to $147.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. 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 report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of ESAB from $109.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ESAB presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $137.22.

ESAB Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of ESAB traded up $0.47 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $130.10. The stock had a trading volume of 241,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 277,051. The company has a market cap of $7.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. ESAB Corporation has a 52 week low of $88.54 and a 52 week high of $135.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $124.57 and a 200 day moving average of $121.69.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $678.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $633.66 million. ESAB had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 16.98%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ESAB Corporation will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. This is an increase from ESAB's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. ESAB's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.01%.

Insider Transactions at ESAB

In other news, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,417 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.15, for a total value of $185,839.55. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 14,989 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,965,807.35. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.42, for a total transaction of $189,630.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 7.30% of the company's stock.

ESAB Profile

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.