Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Reduces Position in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 23.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 339,495 shares of the company’s stock after selling 106,197 shares during the quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in ESAB were worth $40,719,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in ESAB by 6.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,196,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,512,000 after acquiring an additional 127,714 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in ESAB by 21.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,900,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,001,000 after purchasing an additional 337,983 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in ESAB by 3.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,692,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,028,000 after buying an additional 55,458 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in ESAB by 19.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,160,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,353,000 after buying an additional 190,583 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of ESAB by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,081,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,989,000 after acquiring an additional 271,459 shares in the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESAB has been the subject of several recent research reports. 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. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of ESAB in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of ESAB from $135.00 to $133.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on ESAB from $131.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.14.

ESAB Price Performance

NYSE ESAB opened at $115.94 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $122.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $117.96. ESAB Co. has a 52 week low of $88.54 and a 52 week high of $135.97. The stock has a market cap of $7.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

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

ESAB Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.41%.

ESAB 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.