ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Short Interest Update

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) saw 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 short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESAB has been the topic of several research reports. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $144.00 price target (up previously from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of ESAB from $130.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Loop Capital boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of ESAB in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price objective for the company. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, ESAB currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.57.

ESAB Price Performance

ESAB stock traded down $3.59 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $120.25. The company had a trading volume of 64,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 197,688. 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 has a 1 year low of $87.00 and a 1 year high of $135.97. The company has a market capitalization of $7.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $123.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $113.14.

ESAB Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ESAB

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in ESAB by 104.3% during the 4th quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 839,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,712,000 after buying an additional 428,770 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in ESAB by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,900,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,001,000 after buying an additional 337,983 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 271,459 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in ESAB by 19.7% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in ESAB during the 3rd quarter valued at $15,110,000. Hedge funds and other 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.