ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) Price Target Raised to $131.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) had its target price boosted by equities researchers at Stifel Nicolaus from $130.00 to $131.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 6.78% from the company’s current price.

ESAB has been the subject of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on ESAB in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price target for the company. Loop Capital upped their target price on ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI cut ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $102.00 to $122.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $144.00 target price (up from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a report on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ESAB presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.57.

ESAB Price Performance

Shares of ESAB stock traded down $1.10 on Friday, reaching $122.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 29,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 205,983. The company has a market capitalization of $7.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.69, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.37. ESAB has a 52-week low of $85.79 and a 52-week high of $135.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $124.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $111.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.13. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.27% and a net margin of 9.47%. The firm had revenue of $673.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $620.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that ESAB will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.03, for a total value of $531,877.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.96, for a total value of $7,269,395.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 53,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,627,789.92. The trade was a 52.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 68,418 shares of company stock valued at $8,431,773. Corporate insiders own 7.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ESAB. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in ESAB during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its position in 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 during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in ESAB by 55.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in ESAB by 629.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 613 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 529 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its position in ESAB by 12,140.0% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 612 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 607 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

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.