Natixis Advisors LLC Raises Position in ESAB Corporation (NYSE:ESAB)

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in ESAB Corporation (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 21.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,544 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 3,466 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC's holdings in ESAB were worth $2,277,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ESAB. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in ESAB by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 682 shares of the company's stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 0.7% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 13,602 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,585,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of ESAB by 0.6% during the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 15,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,852,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in ESAB by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,658 shares of the company's stock worth $319,000 after buying an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in ESAB by 37.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 756 shares of the company's stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of ESAB from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of ESAB from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $141.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird set a $143.00 target price on shares of ESAB in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on ESAB from $144.00 to $142.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on ESAB from $137.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $137.88.

ESAB Trading Up 6.2%

Shares of ESAB stock opened at $116.09 on Friday. ESAB Corporation has a 1-year low of $93.13 and a 1-year high of $135.97. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $125.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $122.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.04 billion, a PE ratio of 27.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.27.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last released its 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 for 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 quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that ESAB Corporation will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ESAB news, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 1,500 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.42, for a total transaction of $189,630.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,440 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was 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 approximately $2,000,881.61. This trade represents a 8.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,357 shares of company stock valued at $567,695. 7.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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