GAMMA Investing LLC Raises Stock Holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 33.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 549 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in ESAB were worth $66,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of ESAB by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,196,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,512,000 after purchasing an additional 127,714 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of ESAB by 21.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,900,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,001,000 after buying an additional 337,983 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of ESAB by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,692,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,028,000 after buying an additional 55,458 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 190,583 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in ESAB by 33.5% in the 3rd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,081,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,989,000 after acquiring an additional 271,459 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Price Performance

ESAB stock opened at $115.28 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $6.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.00, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $110.08. ESAB Co. has a 52 week low of $82.64 and a 52 week high of $135.97.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.13. ESAB had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 17.27%. The company had revenue of $673.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $620.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. ESAB’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that ESAB Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at ESAB

In other news, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.03, for a total value of $531,877.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.96, for a total value of $7,269,395.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,627,789.92. This represents a 52.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 68,418 shares of company stock worth $8,431,773 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 7.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of ESAB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $144.00 target price (up previously from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI cut ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on ESAB in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.43.

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.