Short Interest in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Increases By 35.9%

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) saw a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 788,100 shares, an increase of 35.9% from the February 13th total of 580,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 260,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.0 days. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ESAB shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on ESAB from $131.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Evercore ISI raised ESAB from an “underperform” rating to an “inline” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $122.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of ESAB in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of ESAB from $135.00 to $133.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.14.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ESAB

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of ESAB by 70.3% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 218 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in ESAB in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 871.0% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 301 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of ESAB in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of ESAB in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. 91.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ESAB Stock Performance

Shares of ESAB stock traded up $1.70 during trading on Monday, reaching $121.98. The company had a trading volume of 339,107 shares, compared to its average volume of 257,891. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $118.28. ESAB has a one year low of $88.54 and a one year high of $135.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $7.38 billion, a PE ratio of 28.24, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $633.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.43 million. ESAB had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 17.43%. Sell-side analysts forecast that ESAB will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is 7.41%.

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.