Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 7,704 Shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas decreased its holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 15.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 41,601 shares of the company's stock after selling 7,704 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.07% of ESAB worth $4,990,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in ESAB by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,900,115 shares of the company's stock worth $202,001,000 after purchasing an additional 337,983 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of ESAB during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 9,279 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,113,000 after acquiring an additional 2,147 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. bought a new stake in ESAB in the 4th quarter worth approximately $254,000. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of ESAB in the 4th quarter worth $204,000. 91.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESAB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI raised ESAB from an "underperform" rating to an "inline" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $122.00 to $120.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of ESAB from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of ESAB in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a "buy" rating and a $160.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of ESAB from $131.00 to $125.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $134.14.

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ESAB Price Performance

NYSE:ESAB traded down $0.56 on Thursday, reaching $119.89. 327,914 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 259,281. The firm has a market cap of $7.26 billion, a PE ratio of 27.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $122.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $119.35. 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 data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $633.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $636.43 million. ESAB had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 17.43%. Equities research analysts forecast that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. ESAB's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.41%.

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.