ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Shares Sold by Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 3.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 452,781 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,214 shares during the quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in ESAB were worth $42,756,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of ESAB by 302.6% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ESAB in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of ESAB by 57.9% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ESAB during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in ESAB in the second quarter valued at $42,000. 91.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ESAB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on ESAB from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of ESAB from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of ESAB from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of ESAB in a report on Thursday, June 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on ESAB from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.57.

ESAB Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of ESAB stock opened at $98.86 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.88, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $98.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.86. ESAB Co. has a one year low of $61.43 and a one year high of $114.77.

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

ESAB Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. ESAB’s payout ratio is currently 8.38%.

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.