ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $98.63.

Several brokerages recently commented on ESAB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised ESAB from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $111.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of ESAB in a report on Thursday, June 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock.

ESAB Price Performance

NYSE:ESAB opened at $93.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.65. The company has a 50-day moving average of $100.81 and a 200-day moving average of $97.57. ESAB has a 52 week low of $61.43 and a 52 week high of $114.77. The company has a market capitalization of $5.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.40, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.43.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $690.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $653.93 million. ESAB had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.59%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that ESAB will post 4.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. This is a boost from ESAB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. ESAB’s payout ratio is currently 8.38%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ESAB

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of ESAB by 11.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,424,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $710,316,000 after purchasing an additional 653,377 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of ESAB by 6,624.8% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 379,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,836,000 after acquiring an additional 373,441 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in ESAB in the first quarter worth about $33,811,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in ESAB during the 4th quarter worth about $11,502,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in ESAB by 2,277.5% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 93,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,359,000 after purchasing an additional 89,826 shares during the period. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.