Voloridge Investment Management LLC Trims Stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Voloridge Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 42.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 86,598 shares of the company's stock after selling 64,751 shares during the quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC owned about 0.14% of ESAB worth $10,387,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in ESAB by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,900,115 shares of the company's stock worth $202,001,000 after acquiring an additional 337,983 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of ESAB in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP increased its holdings in ESAB by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 32,775 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,931,000 after buying an additional 2,571 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 30.1% in the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 9,279 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,113,000 after buying an additional 2,147 shares during the period. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of ESAB in the 4th quarter worth about $254,000. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESAB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $143.00 price objective on shares of ESAB in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group upgraded shares of ESAB from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $123.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of ESAB from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of ESAB from $109.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $137.22.

ESAB Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESAB traded down $3.06 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $123.47. The stock had a trading volume of 166,722 shares, compared to its average volume of 279,219. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $7.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36. ESAB Co. has a fifty-two week low of $88.54 and a fifty-two week high of $135.97. The company's 50-day moving average price is $119.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.35.

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

ESAB Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at ESAB

In other ESAB news, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,417 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.15, for a total value of $185,839.55. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 7.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.