ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) Trading Down 5.5%

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)’s stock price traded down 5.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $91.03 and last traded at $91.04. 44,371 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 248,316 shares. The stock had previously closed at $96.38.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI raised their target price on ESAB from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on ESAB from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised ESAB from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $111.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ESAB presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.29.

ESAB Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.65. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $104.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.48.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $690.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $653.93 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 8.39%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. Analysts forecast that ESAB Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This is an increase from ESAB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.28%.

Institutional Trading of ESAB

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of ESAB by 11.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,424,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $710,316,000 after buying an additional 653,377 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in ESAB by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,578,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,724,000 after purchasing an additional 63,948 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in ESAB by 24.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,892,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $203,077,000 after purchasing an additional 566,224 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in ESAB by 25.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,376,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,672,000 after purchasing an additional 276,558 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its stake in ESAB by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 811,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,422,000 after purchasing an additional 42,099 shares during the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.