ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 541,000 shares, a growth of 26.2% from the March 31st total of 428,600 shares. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 248,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Christopher M. Hix sold 7,465 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.28, for a total transaction of $741,125.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 33,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,361,918.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other ESAB news, Director Christopher M. Hix sold 7,465 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.28, for a total value of $741,125.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,863 shares in the company, valued at $3,361,918.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Didier P. Teirlinck sold 2,512 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.00, for a total transaction of $248,688.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 33,863 shares in the company, valued at $3,352,437. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,833 shares of company stock worth $1,074,985 in the last ninety days. 7.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ESAB

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESAB. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in shares of ESAB by 35.3% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 9,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $646,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of ESAB in the third quarter valued at $295,000. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ESAB by 4.6% in the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 6,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of ESAB by 0.9% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 519,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,484,000 after purchasing an additional 4,838 shares during the period. Finally, Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of ESAB by 42.6% in the third quarter. Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. now owns 33,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Trading Down 1.8 %

ESAB stock traded down $1.97 on Tuesday, hitting $105.88. 291,341 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 235,947. ESAB has a twelve month low of $56.69 and a twelve month high of $114.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The business’s fifty day moving average is $104.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $89.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.54.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.08. ESAB had a net margin of 7.40% and a return on equity of 17.57%. The firm had revenue of $689.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. ESAB’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that ESAB will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th were given a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. ESAB’s payout ratio is currently 7.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of ESAB from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of ESAB from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $111.00 to $125.00 in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of ESAB from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.75.

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.