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

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 788,100 shares, an increase of 35.9% from the February 13th total of 580,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 260,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

ESAB Price Performance

Shares of ESAB traded down $2.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $119.81. 54,806 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 273,367. ESAB has a 1-year low of $88.54 and a 1-year high of $135.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.82. The company has a 50 day moving average of $122.43 and a 200-day moving average of $118.28. The stock has a market cap of $7.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36.

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

ESAB Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.27%. ESAB’s payout ratio is 7.41%.

Institutional Trading of ESAB

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ESAB. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in ESAB in the 4th quarter valued at about $81,199,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in ESAB in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,281,000. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in ESAB by 104.3% in the 4th quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 839,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,712,000 after acquiring an additional 428,770 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in ESAB by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,900,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,001,000 after acquiring an additional 337,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in ESAB by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,097,624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,589,000 after acquiring an additional 318,018 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.