ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 541,000 shares, a growth of 26.2% from the March 31st total of 428,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 248,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on ESAB. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on ESAB from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded ESAB from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $111.00 to $125.00 in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on ESAB from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $93.75.

ESAB Stock Up 1.0 %

ESAB stock traded up $1.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $107.86. 120,338 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 236,870. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $104.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $6.52 billion, a PE ratio of 32.10, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.54. ESAB has a one year low of $56.03 and a one year high of $114.77.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $689.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $644.51 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.57% and a net margin of 7.40%. The business's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that ESAB will post 4.82 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were issued a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. ESAB's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at ESAB

In other ESAB news, Director Rajiv Vinnakota sold 856 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.50, for a total transaction of $85,172.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,779 shares in the company, valued at $674,510.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Christopher M. Hix sold 7,465 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.28, for a total value of $741,125.20. Following the transaction, the director now owns 33,863 shares in the company, valued at $3,361,918.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Rajiv Vinnakota sold 856 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.50, for a total value of $85,172.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,779 shares in the company, valued at approximately $674,510.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,833 shares of company stock worth $1,074,985 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 7.00% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ESAB

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ESAB. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in ESAB by 35.3% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 9,200 shares of the company's stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC purchased a new stake in ESAB in the 3rd quarter worth $295,000. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in ESAB by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 6,785 shares of the company's stock worth $476,000 after buying an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in ESAB by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 519,566 shares of the company's stock worth $36,484,000 after buying an additional 4,838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in ESAB by 42.6% in the 3rd quarter. Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. now owns 33,500 shares of the company's stock worth $2,337,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.