First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Purchases New Stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,119 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ESAB. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in ESAB by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 549 shares of the company's stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its holdings in ESAB by 8.5% in the third quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 2,320 shares of the company's stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in ESAB by 20.4% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,123 shares of the company's stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ESAB by 5.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,912 shares of the company's stock valued at $416,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of ESAB by 20.7% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,531 shares of the company's stock worth $163,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on ESAB. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $144.00 target price (up from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI downgraded ESAB from an "in-line" rating to an "underperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $122.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on ESAB in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $160.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of ESAB from $130.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One investment 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $133.57.

ESAB Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE ESAB traded down $0.12 on Friday, reaching $124.12. The company had a trading volume of 156,063 shares, compared to its average volume of 188,593. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company's fifty day moving average is $123.99 and its 200 day moving average is $113.04. ESAB Co. has a 52-week low of $85.79 and a 52-week high of $135.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.37.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.13. ESAB had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 17.27%. The company had revenue of $673.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $620.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that ESAB Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.26%. ESAB's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.49%.

ESAB 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.