Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Sells 59,472 Shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lowered its holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 77.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm 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 quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ESAB. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in ESAB in the 4th quarter worth approximately $81,199,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in ESAB in the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,281,000. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in ESAB by 104.3% in the 4th quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 839,685 shares of the company's stock worth $100,712,000 after buying an additional 428,770 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 337,983 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in ESAB by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,097,624 shares of the company's stock worth $251,589,000 after buying an additional 318,018 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESAB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded ESAB from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $123.00 to $147.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on ESAB from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird set a $143.00 target price on ESAB in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on ESAB from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on ESAB from $109.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $137.22.

Insider Activity at ESAB

In other ESAB news, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 1,500 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.42, for a total value of $189,630.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Olivier Biebuyck sold 1,417 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 8.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

ESAB Stock Down 1.0%

ESAB stock traded down $1.27 on Friday, reaching $123.85. 335,637 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 271,899. ESAB Co. has a one year low of $88.54 and a one year 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 company has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $122.12.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $633.66 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. 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 positive change from ESAB's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. ESAB's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.01%.

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.