Verition Fund Management LLC Reduces Stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Verition Fund Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB - Free Report) by 57.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,887 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,884 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC's holdings in ESAB were worth $945,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in ESAB by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 432,356 shares of the company's stock worth $40,827,000 after purchasing an additional 29,453 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its position in shares of ESAB by 44.3% in the 2nd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 64,239 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,066,000 after acquiring an additional 19,721 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in ESAB by 40.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 31,712 shares of the company's stock worth $3,536,000 after acquiring an additional 9,062 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in ESAB by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 71,700 shares of the company's stock worth $6,771,000 after acquiring an additional 5,771 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in ESAB by 181.7% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,259 shares of the company's stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

ESAB Stock Performance

ESAB traded down $0.02 on Monday, reaching $128.39. The stock had a trading volume of 244,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 253,908. The business's 50-day moving average price is $119.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.95. The company has a market cap of $7.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.34. ESAB Co. has a 12-month low of $81.86 and a 12-month high of $135.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $673.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $620.50 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.27% and a net margin of 9.47%. ESAB's revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that ESAB Co. will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. ESAB's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.96, for a total transaction of $7,269,395.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,902 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,627,789.92. This represents a 52.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevin J. Johnson sold 5,044 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total transaction of $630,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,429,125. This represents a 30.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 68,418 shares of company stock valued at $8,431,773. 7.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

ESAB Company 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.