Short Interest in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Expands By 6.0%

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,010,000 shares, an increase of 6.0% from the October 15th total of 952,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 241,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.2 days. Approximately 1.8% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.03, for a total value of $531,877.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevin J. Johnson sold 5,044 shares of ESAB 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 approximately $1,429,125. The trade was a 30.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 68,418 shares of company stock valued at $8,431,773 over the last 90 days. 7.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of ESAB

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in ESAB during the second quarter worth about $42,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of ESAB by 55.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 529 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of ESAB by 12,140.0% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 612 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new position in shares of ESAB in the third quarter worth about $77,000. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ESAB Price Performance

NYSE:ESAB traded down $1.11 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $121.25. 216,674 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 252,813. ESAB has a 1 year low of $76.08 and a 1 year high of $135.97. The company has a market cap of $7.33 billion, a PE ratio of 28.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $111.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.92.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 17.27%. ESAB’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that ESAB will post 4.94 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESAB has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered ESAB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday. Bank of America boosted their target price on ESAB from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $144.00 price objective (up from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $122.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ESAB presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $124.14.

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.