JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has $264.18 Million Stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 15.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,202,568 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 302,453 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in ESAB were worth $264,176,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ESAB by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,546,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $665,200,000 after acquiring an additional 20,741 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in ESAB by 6.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,196,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,512,000 after purchasing an additional 127,714 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,692,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,028,000 after buying an additional 55,458 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ESAB by 19.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,160,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,353,000 after buying an additional 190,583 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TimesSquare Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ESAB by 104.3% in the fourth quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 839,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,712,000 after buying an additional 428,770 shares in the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ESAB Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of ESAB stock opened at $115.92 on Monday. ESAB Co. has a 12-month low of $88.54 and a 12-month high of $135.97. The company has a market capitalization of $7.02 billion, a PE ratio of 26.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $122.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $119.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $633.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $636.43 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 9.66%. As a group, analysts predict that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is 7.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of ESAB from an “underperform” rating to an “inline” rating and cut their price target for the company from $122.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of ESAB in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on ESAB from $131.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on ESAB from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.14.

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.