First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Makes New Investment in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 2,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in ESAB by 21.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,900,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,001,000 after acquiring an additional 337,983 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 40.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 31,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,536,000 after purchasing an additional 9,062 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of ESAB during the fourth quarter valued at about $204,000. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of ESAB by 46.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 31,513 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,349,000 after purchasing an additional 10,027 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of ESAB by 1.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 517,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,996,000 after buying an additional 8,235 shares in the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on ESAB. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on ESAB in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price objective on the stock. Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $144.00 target price (up from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a report on Friday, November 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of ESAB from $130.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.57.

ESAB Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESAB opened at $122.84 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.77, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.37. ESAB Co. has a 12 month low of $85.79 and a 12 month high of $135.97. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $124.10 and its 200 day moving average is $112.66.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $620.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that ESAB Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. ESAB’s payout ratio is 7.49%.

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.