Proficio Capital Partners LLC Takes $2.58 Million Position in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 21,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,575,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ESAB. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ESAB by 104.3% in the fourth quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 839,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,712,000 after acquiring an additional 428,770 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 acquiring an additional 337,983 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of ESAB by 33.5% in the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,081,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,989,000 after acquiring an additional 271,459 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ESAB by 19.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,160,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,353,000 after acquiring an additional 190,583 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of ESAB by 6.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,196,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,512,000 after acquiring an additional 127,714 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ESAB shares. Evercore ISI raised shares of ESAB from an “underperform” rating to an “inline” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $122.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of ESAB from $131.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of ESAB from $135.00 to $133.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $144.00 price target (up previously from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of ESAB in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.14.

ESAB Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of ESAB stock opened at $121.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.25. ESAB Co. has a 1 year low of $88.54 and a 1 year high of $135.97. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $122.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $117.19. The stock has a market cap of $7.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.04, a PEG 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.13. ESAB had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The company had revenue of $633.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $636.43 million. As a group, research analysts expect that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. ESAB’s dividend 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.