New Century Financial Group LLC Acquires New Holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

New Century Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 3,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $321,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ESAB. Whittier Trust Co. increased its position in shares of ESAB by 302.6% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new position in ESAB in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ESAB in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ESAB during the second quarter worth about $92,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 181.7% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares in the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ESAB Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESAB opened at $104.98 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The business has a 50-day moving average of $100.03 and a 200-day moving average of $101.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.48, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.42. ESAB Co. has a fifty-two week low of $61.43 and a fifty-two week high of $114.77.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $707.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $686.75 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 9.06%. The business’s revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that ESAB Co. will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on ESAB. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of ESAB from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of ESAB in a report on Thursday, June 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Bank of America lifted their price target 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 reduced their price objective on ESAB from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.00.

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.