New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Position in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 41,372 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,000 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in ESAB were worth $4,962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in ESAB in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its holdings in shares of ESAB by 871.0% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 301 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of ESAB by 629.8% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of ESAB by 12,140.0% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 607 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in ESAB by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 549 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $144.00 price target (up from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a report on Friday, November 8th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on ESAB in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded ESAB from an “underperform” rating to an “inline” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $122.00 to $120.00 in a report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of ESAB from $131.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of ESAB from $135.00 to $133.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ESAB currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.14.

ESAB Stock Down 0.1 %

ESAB opened at $124.40 on Friday. ESAB Co. has a 1 year low of $88.54 and a 1 year high of $135.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $122.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $116.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.82. The company has a market cap of $7.53 billion, a PE ratio of 28.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $1.28 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 business had revenue of $633.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $636.43 million. Sell-side analysts expect that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.26%. ESAB’s payout ratio is currently 7.41%.

ESAB 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.