State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 11,211 Shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its stake in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 32.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,417 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,211 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in ESAB were worth $2,211,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in ESAB by 11.3% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,424,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $710,316,000 after buying an additional 653,377 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of ESAB in the 1st quarter worth $33,811,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of ESAB by 2,277.5% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 93,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,359,000 after purchasing an additional 89,826 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of ESAB during the first quarter valued at about $6,174,000. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its holdings in ESAB by 5.5% during the first quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 811,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,422,000 after purchasing an additional 42,099 shares during the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ESAB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on ESAB from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on ESAB from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Bank of America lifted their target price on ESAB from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of ESAB from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of ESAB in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.57.

ESAB Price Performance

ESAB opened at $105.97 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.74, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $99.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $101.42. ESAB Co. has a twelve month low of $61.43 and a twelve month high of $114.77.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.05. ESAB had a net margin of 9.06% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The business had revenue of $707.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $686.75 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that ESAB Co. will post 4.84 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.38%.

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.