Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Trims Holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA decreased its stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 8.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 383,624 shares of the company's stock after selling 33,225 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 0.63% of ESAB worth $40,783,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of ESAB during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in ESAB by 12,140.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 612 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 607 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in ESAB by 629.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 613 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 529 shares during the period. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in ESAB during the 2nd quarter valued at $92,000. Institutional investors own 91.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at ESAB

In other news, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 53,902 shares in the company, valued at $6,627,789.92. This represents a 52.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kevin J. Johnson sold 5,044 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total transaction of $630,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 11,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,429,125. This trade represents a 30.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 7.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on ESAB. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of ESAB from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $138.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Loop Capital raised 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. Evercore ISI cut shares of ESAB from an "in-line" rating to an "underperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of ESAB from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ESAB currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $124.14.

ESAB Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE ESAB traded up $3.06 during trading on Monday, reaching $130.60. The company had a trading volume of 140,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 254,652. ESAB Co. has a 12-month low of $76.08 and a 12-month high of $135.97. The stock has a market cap of $7.89 billion, a PE ratio of 29.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.37. The business's 50-day moving average is $114.48 and its 200 day moving average is $104.31. 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 (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $673.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $620.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that ESAB Co. will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. ESAB's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.