Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $204,000 in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ESAB in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of ESAB by 55.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of ESAB by 12,140.0% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of ESAB by 629.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 613 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 529 shares during the period. Finally, Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new position in shares of ESAB in the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ESAB opened at $123.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.04, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.37. ESAB Co. has a 12-month low of $83.21 and a 12-month high of $135.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $124.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $111.03.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $673.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $620.50 million. ESAB had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 17.27%. ESAB’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that ESAB Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.49%.

Insider Transactions at ESAB

In related news, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.96, for a total value of $7,269,395.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 53,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,627,789.92. This represents a 52.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Kevin J. Johnson sold 5,044 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total transaction of $630,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 11,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,429,125. This trade represents a 30.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 68,418 shares of company stock valued at $8,431,773 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 7.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ESAB. Stifel Nicolaus cut ESAB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $144.00 price objective (up previously from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a report on Friday, November 8th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on ESAB in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ESAB currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.43.

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.