Nomura Holdings Inc. Buys Shares of 7,540 ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 7,540 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $904,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ESAB. Norges Bank bought a new position in ESAB in the fourth quarter valued at about $81,199,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ESAB during the 4th quarter valued at $52,281,000. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 104.3% during the 4th quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 839,685 shares of the company's stock valued at $100,712,000 after acquiring an additional 428,770 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,900,115 shares of the company's stock valued at $202,001,000 after acquiring an additional 337,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,097,624 shares of the company's stock valued at $251,589,000 after acquiring an additional 318,018 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,417 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,965,807.35. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 7.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

ESAB Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:ESAB opened at $129.60 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The business's 50-day moving average is $118.90 and its 200-day moving average is $122.45. ESAB Co. has a 1 year low of $88.54 and a 1 year high of $135.97.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $678.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $633.66 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 9.66%. The firm's revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on ESAB from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. UBS Group raised ESAB from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $123.00 to $147.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on ESAB from $109.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $143.00 target price on ESAB in a report on Friday, May 2nd. 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.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $137.22.

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.

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