Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 60,988 Shares of ESAB Corporation $ESAB

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in ESAB Corporation (NYSE:ESAB) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,406,425 shares of the company’s stock after selling 60,988 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of ESAB worth $604,006,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of ESAB in the 4th quarter worth $271,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in shares of ESAB by 33.9% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 177,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,822,000 after purchasing an additional 44,877 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of ESAB in the 4th quarter worth $264,000. Hudson Value Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of ESAB by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 50,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,664,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of ESAB by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 18,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,063,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares during the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other ESAB news, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,404 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.79, for a total value of $7,353,621.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 99,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,362,164.56. This trade represents a 37.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 7.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ESAB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on ESAB from $148.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of ESAB in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings lowered ESAB from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. DA Davidson reduced their target price on ESAB from $146.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered ESAB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.89.

ESAB Stock Performance

ESAB stock opened at $97.86 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $104.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $113.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a PE ratio of 26.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.24. ESAB Corporation has a 1-year low of $89.41 and a 1-year high of $137.42.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $687.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $687.80 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 7.98%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that ESAB Corporation will post 5.82 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.81%.

ESAB Company Profile

ESAB Corporation is a global leader in welding, cutting and gas control technologies, offering a comprehensive portfolio of equipment, consumables and automation solutions. The company’s products include welding power sources, cutting machines, torches, electrodes, filler metals and gas regulating equipment designed to meet the needs of diverse industries. ESAB serves sectors such as construction, shipbuilding, automotive, energy, infrastructure and manufacturing, providing both standard and customized solutions to enhance productivity and quality in metal fabrication and processing.

Founded in 1904 by Swedish inventor Oscar Kjellberg, ESAB pioneered the development of coated welding electrodes, laying the groundwork for modern welding practices.