Hancock Whitney Corp Lowers Holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Hancock Whitney Corp reduced its position in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,697 shares of the company’s stock after selling 315 shares during the quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in ESAB were worth $1,775,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew 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 worth $114,989,000 after buying an additional 271,459 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in ESAB by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 517,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,996,000 after acquiring an additional 8,235 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in ESAB by 12,140.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 612 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in ESAB during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,817,000. Finally, Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of ESAB by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 749,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,706,000 after purchasing an additional 59,447 shares in the last quarter. 91.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ESAB. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of ESAB from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed 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. Evercore ISI lowered ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of ESAB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $138.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $124.14.

Insider Activity

In other ESAB news, CEO Shyam Kambeyanda sold 59,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.96, for a total transaction of $7,269,395.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,627,789.92. This trade represents a 52.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.03, for a total transaction of $531,877.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 68,418 shares of company stock valued at $8,431,773 over the last ninety days. 7.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

ESAB Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ESAB opened at $129.12 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $114.48 and its 200 day moving average is $104.31. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $76.08 and a 1 year high of $135.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.37.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $673.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $620.50 million. ESAB had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 17.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that ESAB Co. will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. ESAB’s payout ratio is currently 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.