New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Makes New $1.50 Million Investment in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 12,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,496,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in ESAB by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,546,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $665,200,000 after buying an additional 20,741 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,202,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $264,176,000 after acquiring an additional 302,453 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 6.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,196,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,512,000 after acquiring an additional 127,714 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in ESAB by 3.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,692,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,028,000 after purchasing an additional 55,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ESAB by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,160,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,353,000 after buying an additional 190,583 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Stock Performance

NYSE ESAB opened at $115.92 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $7.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36. ESAB Co. has a fifty-two week low of $88.54 and a fifty-two week high of $135.97. The business has a fifty day moving average of $122.69 and a 200-day moving average of $119.83.

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

ESAB Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ESAB. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on ESAB from $131.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of ESAB from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of ESAB from an “underperform” rating to an “inline” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $122.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on ESAB in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price target for the company. Two research 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.com, ESAB presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.14.

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.