Wedmont Private Capital Takes $233,000 Position in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Wedmont Private Capital bought a new position in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in ESAB by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 549 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased its position in shares of ESAB by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 2,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in ESAB by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $362,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in ESAB by 20.4% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in ESAB by 5.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $416,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at ESAB

In related news, CFO Kevin J. Johnson sold 5,044 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $630,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,429,125. This trade represents a 30.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.03, for a total transaction of $531,877.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 68,418 shares of company stock worth $8,431,773 in the last three months. Insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ESAB shares. Jefferies Financial Group initiated 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 downgraded ESAB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $144.00 target price (up previously from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a report on Friday, November 8th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.43.

ESAB Price Performance

ESAB stock opened at $124.19 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.37. ESAB Co. has a 12-month low of $82.64 and a 12-month high of $135.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $124.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.68.

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. The company had revenue of $673.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $620.50 million. ESAB had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 17.27%. ESAB’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that ESAB Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.49%.

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.