Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $13.34 Million Stake in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 154,032 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,682 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned about 0.26% of ESAB worth $13,342,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in ESAB by 0.5% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 24,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,740,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE boosted its position in shares of ESAB by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE now owns 14,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,219,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its position in ESAB by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of ESAB by 23.4% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in shares of ESAB by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ESAB. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on ESAB from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on ESAB from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of ESAB from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $111.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, ESAB has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.75.

ESAB Price Performance

NYSE ESAB traded up $1.30 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $106.50. 10,756 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 235,656. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $6.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.67. ESAB Co. has a 1 year low of $55.37 and a 1 year high of $114.77.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $689.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $644.51 million. ESAB had a net margin of 7.40% and a return on equity of 17.57%. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that ESAB Co. will post 4.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th were issued a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is 7.14%.

Insider Activity at ESAB

In other ESAB news, Director Rajiv Vinnakota sold 856 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.50, for a total value of $85,172.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,779 shares in the company, valued at $674,510.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Rajiv Vinnakota sold 856 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.50, for a total transaction of $85,172.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,779 shares in the company, valued at approximately $674,510.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Christopher M. Hix sold 7,465 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.28, for a total transaction of $741,125.20. Following the transaction, the director now owns 33,863 shares in the company, valued at $3,361,918.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,833 shares of company stock worth $1,074,985 in the last three months. 7.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.