ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) Downgraded by Stifel Nicolaus to Hold

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $130.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $138.00. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price points to a potential upside of 4.75% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on ESAB. Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $144.00 target price (up from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Bank of America upped their target price 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ESAB has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $124.14.

ESAB Stock Performance

Shares of ESAB stock opened at $124.11 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.92. ESAB has a one year low of $76.08 and a one year high of $135.97. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $111.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $103.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at ESAB

In other ESAB news, CFO Kevin J. Johnson sold 5,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $630,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,429,125. This trade represents a 30.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was 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 worth $8,431,773 in the last ninety days. 7.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ESAB

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of ESAB by 11.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,424,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $710,316,000 after purchasing an additional 653,377 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of ESAB by 7.3% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 432,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,827,000 after buying an additional 29,453 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its holdings in ESAB by 44.3% during the 2nd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 64,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,066,000 after purchasing an additional 19,721 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in ESAB by 40.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 31,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,536,000 after purchasing an additional 9,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in ESAB by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 71,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,771,000 after purchasing an additional 5,771 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

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.