Cooper Financial Group Sells 437 Shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Cooper Financial Group decreased its position in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 15.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,433 shares of the company’s stock after selling 437 shares during the quarter. Cooper Financial Group’s holdings in ESAB were worth $269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in ESAB during the fourth quarter worth $918,000. Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in ESAB during the fourth quarter worth $1,011,000. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP acquired a new stake in ESAB during the fourth quarter worth $891,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its stake in ESAB by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 154,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,342,000 after buying an additional 7,682 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP boosted its stake in ESAB by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 53,457 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,630,000 after buying an additional 24,099 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

ESAB Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of ESAB stock traded up $0.24 on Friday, reaching $96.56. The company had a trading volume of 615,746 shares, compared to its average volume of 307,336. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $5.83 billion, a PE ratio of 25.28, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a 50-day moving average of $103.09 and a 200-day moving average of $96.98. ESAB Co. has a 12 month low of $61.43 and a 12 month high of $114.77.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.09. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 8.39%. The company had revenue of $690.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $653.93 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. ESAB’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that ESAB Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

ESAB Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. This is a boost from ESAB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESAB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of ESAB from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of ESAB in a research note on Thursday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of ESAB from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of ESAB from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $111.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ESAB presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.63.

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.