ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $108.57.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ESAB. Oppenheimer began coverage on ESAB in a report on Thursday, June 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on ESAB from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on ESAB from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America raised their target price on ESAB from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on ESAB from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th.

ESAB Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of ESAB opened at $103.81 on Wednesday. ESAB has a twelve month low of $61.43 and a twelve month high of $114.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $98.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.37.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.05. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 9.06%. The firm had revenue of $707.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $686.75 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.21 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that ESAB will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.38%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ESAB

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whittier Trust Co. grew its stake in ESAB by 302.6% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new position in ESAB in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in ESAB by 57.9% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 420 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in ESAB in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in ESAB in the second quarter worth about $42,000. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.