Wedmont Private Capital Invests $233,000 in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Wedmont Private Capital acquired a new stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in ESAB in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in ESAB by 629.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 613 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in ESAB by 12,140.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 612 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the period. Finally, Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new position in ESAB during the 3rd quarter worth about $77,000. 91.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ESAB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Stifel Nicolaus cut ESAB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $138.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of ESAB in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price target for the company. 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 report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut shares of ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $122.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.43.

ESAB Price Performance

Shares of ESAB opened at $124.19 on Friday. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $124.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.68. ESAB Co. has a 1-year low of $82.64 and a 1-year high of $135.97. The company has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.08, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.37.

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

ESAB Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.26%. ESAB’s payout ratio is 7.49%.

Insider Transactions at ESAB

In other ESAB news, CFO Kevin J. Johnson sold 5,044 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $630,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,429,125. This represents a 30.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.96, for a total transaction of $7,269,395.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,627,789.92. This trade represents a 52.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 68,418 shares of company stock worth $8,431,773. 7.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.