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

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 697,800 shares, an increase of 13.2% from the December 31st total of 616,500 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 281,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESAB. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in ESAB in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its stake in shares of ESAB by 871.0% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 301 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of ESAB by 55.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in ESAB by 12,140.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 612 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in ESAB by 629.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESAB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted 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. Evercore ISI lowered shares of ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of ESAB in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price target for the company. Loop Capital upped their price objective on ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $144.00 target price (up previously from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.57.

ESAB Price Performance

Shares of ESAB traded down $3.54 on Monday, hitting $120.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 146,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 201,702. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $123.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.14. ESAB has a fifty-two week low of $87.00 and a fifty-two week high of $135.97. The company has a market capitalization of $7.27 billion, a PE ratio of 28.17, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. ESAB’s payout ratio is presently 7.49%.

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.