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

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 541,000 shares, an increase of 26.2% from the March 31st total of 428,600 shares. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 248,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ESAB shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of ESAB from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on ESAB from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised ESAB from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $111.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.75.

ESAB Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESAB traded up $1.04 during trading on Friday, hitting $107.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 120,338 shares, compared to its average volume of 236,870. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $6.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a 50-day moving average of $104.18 and a 200-day moving average of $88.87. ESAB has a 12 month low of $56.03 and a 12 month high of $114.77.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.08. ESAB had a net margin of 7.40% and a return on equity of 17.57%. The firm had revenue of $689.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $644.51 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ESAB will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th were given a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. ESAB’s payout ratio is currently 7.14%.

Insider Activity

In other ESAB news, Director Rajiv Vinnakota sold 856 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.50, for a total value of $85,172.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,779 shares in the company, valued at $674,510.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Rajiv Vinnakota sold 856 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.50, for a total transaction of $85,172.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $674,510.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Christopher M. Hix sold 7,465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.28, for a total value of $741,125.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 33,863 shares in the company, valued at $3,361,918.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,833 shares of company stock worth $1,074,985 in the last quarter. 7.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ESAB

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESAB. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in ESAB during the fourth quarter valued at about $918,000. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP purchased a new position in ESAB in the 4th quarter worth approximately $891,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its stake in ESAB by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 154,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,342,000 after purchasing an additional 7,682 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in ESAB by 202.7% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 68,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,828,000 after buying an additional 46,046 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in shares of ESAB during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,062,000. 91.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.