Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Boosts Holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 11.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,424,115 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 653,377 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 10.63% of ESAB worth $710,316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in ESAB by 302.6% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of ESAB in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of ESAB by 57.9% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ESAB in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of ESAB in the 4th quarter valued at about $103,000. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of ESAB in a report on Thursday, June 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of ESAB from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.38.

ESAB Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of ESAB traded up $0.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $99.97. The company had a trading volume of 279,737 shares, compared to its average volume of 239,155. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $97.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. ESAB Co. has a 1-year low of $61.43 and a 1-year high of $114.77. The stock has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a PE ratio of 26.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.43.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.09. ESAB had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.59%. The business had revenue of $690.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $653.93 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that ESAB Co. will post 4.9 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. This is a boost from ESAB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.