ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 788,100 shares, an increase of 35.9% from the February 13th total of 580,000 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 260,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESAB. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in ESAB by 41.5% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $758,000 after purchasing an additional 2,093 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in ESAB by 5.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $416,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. acquired a new position in ESAB during the third quarter valued at $278,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in ESAB by 7.7% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,964,000 after purchasing an additional 1,996 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in ESAB by 20.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the period. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESAB has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of ESAB from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of ESAB from $131.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of ESAB in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of 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 research note on Monday, February 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.14.

ESAB Stock Down 1.7 %

ESAB traded down $2.04 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $119.81. The stock had a trading volume of 54,806 shares, compared to its average volume of 273,367. ESAB has a twelve month low of $88.54 and a twelve month high of $135.97. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $118.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.82. The company has a market capitalization of $7.25 billion, a PE ratio of 27.73, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.13. ESAB had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The business had revenue of $633.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $636.43 million. On average, research analysts predict that ESAB will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.27%. ESAB’s payout ratio is currently 7.41%.

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.