Strs Ohio Cuts Stock Holdings in ESAB Corporation $ESAB

Key Points

• Strs Ohio sharply reduced its ESAB stake, cutting its position by 97.4% in the first quarter and leaving it with 1,361 shares worth about $132,000.
• Wall Street remains mostly positive on ESAB, with eight analysts rating it a Buy and two a Hold; the stock’s consensus target price is $139.50, though some firms recently trimmed or raised their targets.
• ESAB reported mixed quarterly results but raised its dividend: EPS came in at $1.31, just below estimates, while revenue rose 10% year over year to $745.6 million. The company lifted its quarterly dividend to $0.12 per share from $0.10.

Strs Ohio cut its position in shares of ESAB Corporation (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 97.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,361 shares of the company's stock after selling 50,202 shares during the period. Strs Ohio's holdings in ESAB were worth $132,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in shares of ESAB by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 177,428 shares of the company's stock worth $19,822,000 after acquiring an additional 44,877 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of ESAB in the 4th quarter valued at about $998,000. Defender Capital LLC. acquired a new position in ESAB in the 4th quarter worth about $3,977,000. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in ESAB by 37.8% in the 4th quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 959,101 shares of the company's stock worth $107,151,000 after purchasing an additional 262,850 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in ESAB by 6,787.0% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,053,776 shares of the company's stock worth $117,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038,475 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on ESAB. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of ESAB in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. DA Davidson initiated coverage on ESAB in a research report on Monday, June 15th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $130.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on ESAB from $148.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Roth Capital increased their price objective on ESAB from $142.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $141.00 target price on shares of ESAB in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ESAB currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $139.50.

ESAB Trading Up 0.0%

ESAB opened at $89.17 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $94.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 2.97 and a quick ratio of 2.26. ESAB Corporation has a 12 month low of $82.18 and a 12 month high of $137.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.38, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.17.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.32 by ($0.01). ESAB had a return on equity of 15.04% and a net margin of 7.11%.The company had revenue of $745.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $706.74 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that ESAB Corporation will post 5.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 17th. Investors of record on Friday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. This is an increase from ESAB's previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. ESAB's payout ratio is presently 14.20%.

ESAB Profile

ESAB Corporation is a global leader in welding, cutting and gas control technologies, offering a comprehensive portfolio of equipment, consumables and automation solutions. The company's products include welding power sources, cutting machines, torches, electrodes, filler metals and gas regulating equipment designed to meet the needs of diverse industries. ESAB serves sectors such as construction, shipbuilding, automotive, energy, infrastructure and manufacturing, providing both standard and customized solutions to enhance productivity and quality in metal fabrication and processing.

Founded in 1904 by Swedish inventor Oscar Kjellberg, ESAB pioneered the development of coated welding electrodes, laying the groundwork for modern welding practices.

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