Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Grows Stock Holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 900.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,000 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,600 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's holdings in ESAB were worth $480,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of ESAB during the third quarter worth $215,000. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of ESAB by 46.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 31,513 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,349,000 after acquiring an additional 10,027 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of ESAB during the 3rd quarter worth about $274,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of ESAB by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 4,409 shares of the company's stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in ESAB by 21.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,900,115 shares of the company's stock valued at $202,001,000 after purchasing an additional 337,983 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ESAB shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of ESAB from $125.00 to $109.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI raised ESAB from an "underperform" rating to an "inline" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $122.00 to $120.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on ESAB from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, UBS Group raised ESAB from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $123.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $133.75.

ESAB Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ESAB traded down $0.57 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $118.68. 175,396 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 278,082. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market cap of $7.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.37. ESAB Co. has a 1-year low of $88.54 and a 1-year high of $135.97.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $633.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.43 million. ESAB had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 17.43%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.27%. ESAB's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.41%.

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.