ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Shares Acquired by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 122.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,535 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,495 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in ESAB were worth $544,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ESAB. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in ESAB by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 15,800 shares of the company's stock worth $1,895,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in ESAB by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,664 shares of the company's stock worth $1,999,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in ESAB by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 549 shares of the company's stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased its stake in ESAB by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 2,459 shares of the company's stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont raised its holdings in shares of ESAB by 871.0% in the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 301 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.13% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESAB has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on ESAB from $131.00 to $125.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group upgraded ESAB from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $123.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI upgraded ESAB from an "underperform" rating to an "inline" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $122.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of ESAB from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of ESAB in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a "buy" rating and a $160.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, ESAB has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $135.75.

ESAB Stock Performance

ESAB stock traded up $2.51 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $123.41. The company had a trading volume of 277,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 268,562. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $7.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36. The company's fifty day moving average is $122.36 and its 200-day moving average is $120.14. ESAB Co. has a 12-month low of $88.54 and a 12-month high of $135.97.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.13. The company 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%. Equities research analysts predict that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. ESAB's payout ratio is 7.41%.

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.