ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Shares Sold by AMG National Trust Bank

AMG National Trust Bank lowered its position in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 54.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,469 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,818 shares during the quarter. AMG National Trust Bank’s holdings in ESAB were worth $898,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in ESAB by 21.6% in 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 period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in ESAB by 40.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 31,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,536,000 after buying an additional 9,062 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in ESAB in the fourth quarter valued at about $254,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in ESAB in the fourth quarter valued at about $204,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in ESAB by 46.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 31,513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,349,000 after buying an additional 10,027 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ESAB shares. Evercore ISI raised shares of ESAB from an “underperform” rating to an “inline” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $122.00 to $120.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of ESAB in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of ESAB from $131.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of ESAB from $135.00 to $133.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.14.

ESAB Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of ESAB opened at $122.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $117.39. ESAB Co. has a 1-year low of $88.54 and a 1-year high of $135.97. The stock has a market cap of $7.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $633.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $636.43 million. ESAB had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 17.43%. Equities analysts forecast that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. ESAB’s payout ratio is currently 7.41%.

ESAB 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.