Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lowered its stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 22.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,743 shares of the company's stock after selling 12,869 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned about 0.07% of ESAB worth $4,757,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in ESAB by 55.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 410 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 2,139 shares of the company's stock valued at $202,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in ESAB by 5.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,829 shares of the company's stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in ESAB by 20.4% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,123 shares of the company's stock worth $119,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its position in 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. 91.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ESAB. Evercore ISI downgraded ESAB from an "in-line" rating to an "underperform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $144.00 price objective (up previously from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded ESAB from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $138.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price objective on ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ESAB has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $129.00.

Insider Transactions at ESAB

In other ESAB news, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of ESAB stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.96, for a total value of $7,269,395.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,902 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,627,789.92. The trade was a 52.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kevin J. Johnson sold 5,044 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $630,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 11,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,429,125. This trade represents a 30.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 68,418 shares of company stock valued at $8,431,773 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 7.00% of the company's stock.

ESAB Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ESAB traded down $1.91 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $128.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 337,500 shares, compared to its average volume of 264,707. ESAB Co. has a 52 week low of $81.00 and a 52 week high of $135.97. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $119.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.79. The company has a market capitalization of $7.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $673.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $620.50 million. ESAB had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 17.27%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that ESAB Co. will post 4.94 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. ESAB's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.49%.

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.