Short Interest in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) Drops By 6.9%

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 622,800 shares, a drop of 6.9% from the January 15th total of 669,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 241,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of ESAB by 70.3% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 218 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of ESAB in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its holdings in shares of ESAB by 871.0% in the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 301 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of ESAB in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of ESAB in the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on ESAB. Loop Capital raised their target price on ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $144.00 target price (up previously from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on ESAB from $130.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on ESAB in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI cut ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.57.

ESAB Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:ESAB traded up $0.33 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $129.25. 220,940 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 167,468. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $122.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $115.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36. ESAB has a 1 year low of $88.54 and a 1 year high of $135.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. ESAB’s payout ratio is 7.49%.

About ESAB

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.