Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 112,549 Shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP cut its stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 6.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,681,027 shares of the company’s stock after selling 112,549 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 2.78% of ESAB worth $158,741,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Whittier Trust Co. grew its stake in ESAB by 302.6% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in ESAB in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in ESAB by 57.9% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 420 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ESAB during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ESAB in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESAB has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of ESAB from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of ESAB in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of ESAB from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on ESAB from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on ESAB from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.57.

ESAB Stock Performance

Shares of ESAB stock opened at $105.67 on Friday. ESAB Co. has a 52 week low of $61.43 and a 52 week high of $114.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.66, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $99.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.46.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $707.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $686.75 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 9.06%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that ESAB Co. will post 4.84 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. ESAB’s 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.