Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $2.06 Million Position in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lessened its holdings in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 77.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,694 shares of the company's stock after selling 59,472 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings in ESAB were worth $2,061,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Transactions at ESAB

In related news, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,417 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.15, for a total value of $185,839.55. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 14,989 shares in the company, valued at $1,965,807.35. The trade was a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 7.30% of the company's stock.

ESAB Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE ESAB traded down $0.78 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $125.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 22,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 272,364. ESAB Co. has a 52 week low of $88.54 and a 52 week high of $135.97. 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 stock has a market cap of $7.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $120.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $122.23.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 9.66%. The business had revenue of $678.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $633.66 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. ESAB's revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESAB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price 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. Robert W. Baird set a $143.00 target price on ESAB in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on ESAB from $109.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group upgraded ESAB from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $123.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of ESAB from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ESAB presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.