Victory Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of ESAB Corporation (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 36.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 16,184 shares of the company's stock after selling 9,311 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in ESAB were worth $1,885,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in ESAB in the 4th quarter worth $81,199,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of ESAB by 101.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 880,729 shares of the company's stock valued at $102,605,000 after buying an additional 443,574 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ESAB in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,281,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of ESAB by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,097,624 shares of the company's stock valued at $251,589,000 after purchasing an additional 318,018 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in ESAB by 25.6% in the 4th quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,358,204 shares of the company's stock worth $162,903,000 after buying an additional 276,565 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.13% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several research firms recently issued reports on ESAB. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on ESAB from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Robert W. Baird set a $143.00 target price on ESAB in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on ESAB from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $138.89.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on ESAB
ESAB Trading Down 2.7%
Shares of ESAB stock traded down $3.57 during trading on Friday, hitting $130.60. 534,429 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 258,141. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $125.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.60. ESAB Corporation has a 52-week low of $88.54 and a 52-week high of $135.97.
ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $678.14 million for 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 business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that ESAB Corporation will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
ESAB Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. This is a positive change from ESAB's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. ESAB's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.01%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other ESAB news, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,440 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.49, for a total value of $192,225.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 14,989 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,000,881.61. The trade was a 8.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.42, for a total value of $189,630.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 4,357 shares of company stock worth $567,695. 7.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
About ESAB
(
Free Report)
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.
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