JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires 337,983 Shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,900,115 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 337,983 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 3.14% of ESAB worth $202,001,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of ESAB by 55.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 410 shares of the company's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in ESAB in the second quarter worth $42,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in ESAB by 12,140.0% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 612 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in ESAB by 629.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 613 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new stake in ESAB during the third quarter worth about $77,000. 91.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESAB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered ESAB from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of ESAB in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $160.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI lowered shares of ESAB from an "in-line" rating to an "underperform" rating and increased their target price for the company from $102.00 to $122.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $133.43.

ESAB Trading Down 0.2 %

ESAB traded down $0.25 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $119.94. 152,624 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 254,981. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.34. ESAB Co. has a 12-month low of $82.44 and a 12-month high of $135.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $125.32 and a 200 day moving average of $108.93.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $620.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. ESAB's revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that ESAB Co. will post 4.94 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.27%. ESAB's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.49%.

Insider Activity at ESAB

In other ESAB news, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.96, for a total transaction of $7,269,395.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 53,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,627,789.92. This represents a 52.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.03, for a total value of $531,877.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 68,418 shares of company stock worth $8,431,773 over the last quarter. 7.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.