ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Holdings Reduced by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,304 shares of the company’s stock after selling 217 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in ESAB were worth $636,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ESAB. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ESAB in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $215,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 2.6% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 22,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,411,000 after buying an additional 565 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in ESAB by 46.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 31,513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,349,000 after buying an additional 10,027 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in ESAB by 19.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,160,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,353,000 after buying an additional 190,583 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in ESAB during the third quarter worth about $274,000. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ESAB shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of ESAB from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $123.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI raised ESAB from an “underperform” rating to an “inline” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $122.00 to $120.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on ESAB from $125.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on ESAB from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.75.

ESAB Stock Performance

Shares of ESAB stock opened at $113.46 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $119.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $120.50. The company has a market capitalization of $6.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. ESAB Co. has a 1-year low of $88.54 and a 1-year high of $135.97.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.43 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.41%.

About ESAB

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.