Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Cuts Holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. reduced its stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 94.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,348 shares of the company's stock after selling 42,395 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.'s holdings in ESAB were worth $282,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of ESAB by 70.3% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 218 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in ESAB by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 682 shares of the company's stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in ESAB by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 15,800 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,895,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in shares of ESAB by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,664 shares of the company's stock worth $1,999,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ESAB by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 2,459 shares of the company's stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 139 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 ESAB news, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,417 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.15, for a total transaction of $185,839.55. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,989 shares in the company, valued at $1,965,807.35. This trade represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 7.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESAB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group raised shares of ESAB from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $123.00 to $147.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their target price 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 price target on ESAB in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on ESAB from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of ESAB from $109.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report 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. According to data from MarketBeat, ESAB has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $137.22.

ESAB Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of ESAB stock traded down $1.71 on Friday, reaching $123.20. 171,768 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 279,553. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $119.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.44. ESAB Co. has a 52 week low of $88.54 and a 52 week high of $135.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.47 billion, a PE ratio of 28.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last released 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 business had revenue of $678.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $633.66 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 9.66%. The business's revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This is a positive change from ESAB's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. ESAB's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.01%.

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.