Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Sells 8,257 Shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC reduced its holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 77,166 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,257 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in ESAB were worth $9,255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ESAB. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in ESAB by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 2,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in ESAB by 5.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in ESAB by 20.4% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its position in ESAB by 5.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $416,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Price Performance

Shares of ESAB stock opened at $123.99 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.21 and a fifty-two week high of $135.97. The firm has a market cap of $7.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $124.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $111.03.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $673.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $620.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that ESAB Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ESAB. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on ESAB in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI cut shares of ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Loop Capital upped 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. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $144.00 target price (up previously from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ESAB news, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,627,789.92. This represents a 52.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.03, for a total transaction of $531,877.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 68,418 shares of company stock worth $8,431,773. Company insiders own 7.00% of the company’s stock.

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.