New York State Common Retirement Fund Boosts Stock Position in ESAB Corporation (NYSE:ESAB)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in ESAB Corporation (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 9.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,340 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,968 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.07% of ESAB worth $5,282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in ESAB by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,538,081 shares of the company's stock worth $904,118,000 after buying an additional 225,345 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in ESAB by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,546,104 shares of the company's stock valued at $665,200,000 after acquiring an additional 20,741 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in ESAB by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,202,568 shares of the company's stock valued at $264,176,000 after acquiring an additional 302,453 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in ESAB by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,097,624 shares of the company's stock worth $251,589,000 after purchasing an additional 318,018 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its stake in ESAB by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,888,685 shares of the company's stock worth $226,529,000 after purchasing an additional 31,248 shares during the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ESAB. Robert W. Baird set a $143.00 price objective on shares of ESAB in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on ESAB from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group raised ESAB from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $123.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on ESAB from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $138.89.

ESAB Stock Performance

Shares of ESAB stock traded down $0.27 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $132.01. 74,911 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 293,218. The business has a 50-day moving average of $124.67 and a 200-day moving average of $121.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. ESAB Corporation has a 1 year low of $88.54 and a 1 year 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $678.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $633.66 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 16.98% and a net margin of 9.98%. The business's revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that ESAB Corporation will post 5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. This is an increase from ESAB's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. ESAB's payout ratio is 9.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at ESAB

In related news, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,417 shares of ESAB 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 sale, the insider owned 14,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 1,500 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was 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. 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.