ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 902,100 shares, a growth of 13.5% from the May 31st total of 795,000 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 275,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in ESAB by 302.6% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new position in ESAB in the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 154 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in ESAB in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in ESAB by 23.4% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the period. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on ESAB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded ESAB from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $111.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on ESAB from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on ESAB in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ESAB presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.63.

ESAB Price Performance

Shares of ESAB stock traded up $0.48 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $93.08. The company had a trading volume of 28,222 shares, compared to its average volume of 255,969. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.65. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $101.37 and a 200-day moving average of $97.63. The company has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.53, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.43. ESAB has a 12-month low of $61.43 and a 12-month high of $114.77.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $690.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $653.93 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 8.39%. The business’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that ESAB will post 4.91 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This is a positive change from ESAB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is 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.