Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Grows Stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 6,624.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 379,078 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 373,441 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC owned about 0.63% of ESAB worth $32,836,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in ESAB by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,517,838 shares of the company's stock valued at $399,657,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,386 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ESAB by 1.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,578,527 shares of the company's stock valued at $391,724,000 after purchasing an additional 63,948 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ESAB by 2.7% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,539,005 shares of the company's stock valued at $268,119,000 after purchasing an additional 119,073 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of ESAB by 24.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,892,015 shares of the company's stock valued at $203,077,000 after purchasing an additional 566,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of ESAB by 2,222.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,545,956 shares of the company's stock valued at $150,391,000 after purchasing an additional 2,436,338 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESAB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on ESAB from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised ESAB from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $111.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on ESAB from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $93.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ESAB news, Director Didier P. Teirlinck sold 2,512 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.00, for a total value of $248,688.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 33,863 shares in the company, valued at $3,352,437. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Rajiv Vinnakota sold 856 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.50, for a total transaction of $85,172.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,779 shares in the company, valued at $674,510.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Didier P. Teirlinck sold 2,512 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.00, for a total value of $248,688.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 33,863 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,352,437. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 10,833 shares of company stock worth $1,074,985. 7.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

ESAB Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of ESAB stock traded down $2.38 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $107.93. The company had a trading volume of 381,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 305,838. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $100.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $6.52 billion, a PE ratio of 32.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.54. ESAB Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.37 and a fifty-two week 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $689.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.51 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.57% and a net margin of 7.40%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that ESAB Co. will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders 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 payout ratio is currently 7.14%.

ESAB Profile

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.