Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $14.88 Million Position in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 29.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 139,934 shares of the company’s stock after selling 59,080 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.23% of ESAB worth $14,876,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ESAB. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of ESAB by 37.7% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 116,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,836,000 after purchasing an additional 31,780 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of ESAB by 2,277.5% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 93,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,359,000 after purchasing an additional 89,826 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of ESAB during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,811,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ESAB by 5,764.3% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 4,105 shares of the company’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 4,035 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ESAB during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $222,000. 91.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at ESAB

In other ESAB news, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.03, for a total transaction of $531,877.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevin J. Johnson sold 5,044 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $630,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,429,125. The trade was a 30.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 68,418 shares of company stock valued at $8,431,773 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 7.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ESAB. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $144.00 price target (up from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $122.00 in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of ESAB from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, ESAB presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.71.

ESAB Stock Down 1.8 %

ESAB stock opened at $124.17 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $111.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $103.72. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $76.08 and a 1-year high of $135.97.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $673.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $620.50 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.27% and a net margin of 9.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. Analysts expect that ESAB Co. will post 4.94 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. 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.