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

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.03, for a total transaction of $531,877.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.96, for a total value of $7,269,395.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,627,789.92. The trade was a 52.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 68,418 shares of company stock worth $8,431,773. Insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ESAB

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ESAB. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of ESAB by 11.3% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,424,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $710,316,000 after buying an additional 653,377 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of ESAB by 7.3% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 432,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,827,000 after purchasing an additional 29,453 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its stake in shares of ESAB by 44.3% during the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 64,239 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,066,000 after purchasing an additional 19,721 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in ESAB by 40.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 31,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,536,000 after purchasing an additional 9,062 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in ESAB in the first quarter worth about $33,811,000. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ESAB Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of ESAB traded down $0.90 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $121.46. The company had a trading volume of 129,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 252,400. The stock has a market cap 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’s 50 day moving average price is $111.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $103.73. 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 has a 52 week low of $76.08 and a 52 week high of $135.97.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $673.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $620.50 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.27% and a net margin of 9.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that ESAB will post 4.94 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.26%. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on ESAB. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus cut ESAB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday. Bank of America upped their target price on ESAB from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $144.00 price objective (up previously from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $124.14.

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.