Stifel Nicolaus Raises ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) Price Target to $131.00

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) had its price objective boosted by equities researchers at Stifel Nicolaus from $130.00 to $131.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price points to a potential upside of 5.80% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on ESAB. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $144.00 target price (up from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a report on Friday, November 8th. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on ESAB in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. One investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.57.

ESAB Stock Performance

Shares of ESAB stock opened at $123.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.92. ESAB has a 1 year low of $85.79 and a 1 year high of $135.97. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $124.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.16. The firm has a market cap of $7.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.37.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.13. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.27% and a net margin of 9.47%. The firm had revenue of $673.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $620.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. ESAB’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that ESAB will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.03, for a total value of $531,877.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.96, for a total value of $7,269,395.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,627,789.92. This represents a 52.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 68,418 shares of company stock valued at $8,431,773. Company insiders own 7.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ESAB

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESAB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in ESAB by 21.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,900,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,001,000 after purchasing an additional 337,983 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of ESAB by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,081,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,989,000 after acquiring an additional 271,459 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ESAB by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,160,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,353,000 after acquiring an additional 190,583 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of ESAB in the 3rd quarter worth $15,110,000. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of ESAB by 6.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,196,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,512,000 after purchasing an additional 127,714 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.