First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Makes New $254,000 Investment in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. bought a new stake in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its stake in shares of ESAB by 871.0% in the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 301 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in ESAB in the fourth quarter worth $204,000. Wedmont Private Capital purchased a new stake in shares of ESAB in the fourth quarter worth $233,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of ESAB during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of ESAB by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 11,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,384,000 after acquiring an additional 953 shares in the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on ESAB. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of ESAB from $130.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $144.00 target price (up from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI lowered ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $122.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on ESAB in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.57.

ESAB Stock Up 1.5 %

ESAB stock opened at $122.84 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $7.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.92. The business’s 50-day moving average is $124.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $112.66. ESAB Co. has a fifty-two week low of $85.79 and a fifty-two week high of $135.97.

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

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.26%. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.49%.

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.