ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Short Interest Update

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,010,000 shares, a growth of 6.0% from the October 15th total of 952,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 241,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.2 days. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.03, for a total transaction of $531,877.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kevin J. Johnson sold 5,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total transaction of $630,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 11,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,429,125. This represents a 30.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 68,418 shares of company stock worth $8,431,773 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESAB. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of ESAB by 7.1% during the second quarter. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC now owns 2,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $203,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of ESAB by 55.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lifted its position in shares of ESAB by 8.5% during the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 2,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ESAB by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of ESAB by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Trading Down 0.7 %

ESAB stock traded down $0.90 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $121.46. 129,864 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 252,400. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $111.78 and its 200-day moving average is $103.73. ESAB has a fifty-two week low of $76.08 and a fifty-two week high of $135.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.49, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.92.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last posted its earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $620.50 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that ESAB will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered ESAB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective 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. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $144.00 target price (up from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $122.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ESAB currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $124.14.

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.