Jefferies Financial Group Initiates Coverage on ESAB (NYSE:ESAB)

Equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 25.28% from the stock’s current price.

ESAB has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded ESAB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $144.00 price target (up from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.43.

ESAB Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of ESAB opened at $127.71 on Thursday. ESAB has a 1-year low of $82.44 and a 1-year 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $121.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.91, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.34.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.13. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.27% and a net margin of 9.47%. The business had revenue of $673.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $620.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that ESAB will post 4.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at ESAB

In other news, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.03, for a total transaction of $531,877.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevin J. Johnson sold 5,044 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $1,429,125. This trade represents a 30.61 % decrease in their position. 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ESAB

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESAB. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of ESAB during the 1st quarter valued at about $259,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its position in ESAB by 32.3% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $340,000 after acquiring an additional 879 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ESAB by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 2,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of ESAB by 168.4% during the 2nd quarter. Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. now owns 10,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $962,000 after acquiring an additional 6,400 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of ESAB by 181.7% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares in the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ESAB Company 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.