ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage set a "buy" rating and a $160.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group's target price indicates a potential upside of 24.94% from the company's current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Evercore ISI cut ESAB from an "in-line" rating to an "underperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $102.00 to $122.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded ESAB from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Loop Capital upped their price target on ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $144.00 price objective (up previously from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $133.43.

ESAB Price Performance

ESAB stock traded down $0.76 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $128.06. 139,779 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 253,975. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $120.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. ESAB has a 1-year low of $81.86 and a 1-year high of $135.97. The company has a market cap of $7.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.17, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.34.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 17.27% and a net margin of 9.47%. The business had revenue of $673.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $620.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that ESAB will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 of the company's stock, valued at $6,627,789.92. The trade was a 52.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was 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 three months, insiders sold 68,418 shares of company stock valued at $8,431,773. 7.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of ESAB by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,081,639 shares of the company's stock worth $114,989,000 after acquiring an additional 271,459 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 19.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,160,056 shares of the company's stock worth $123,353,000 after acquiring an additional 190,583 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of ESAB in the third quarter valued at approximately $15,110,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of ESAB by 6.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,196,522 shares of the company's stock worth $233,512,000 after purchasing an additional 127,714 shares during the period. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in ESAB during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,277,000. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.