Bank of Montreal Can Has $1.14 Million Stock Position in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 62.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,532 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,653 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in ESAB were worth $1,143,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ESAB. Norges Bank bought a new stake in ESAB in the fourth quarter worth $81,199,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in ESAB during the 4th quarter valued at $52,281,000. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of ESAB by 104.3% during the fourth 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% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,900,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,001,000 after acquiring an additional 337,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of ESAB by 30.3% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 778,272 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,346,000 after acquiring an additional 180,875 shares during the period. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ESAB Stock Performance

ESAB stock opened at $113.47 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.88 billion, a PE ratio of 26.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $119.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $120.55. ESAB Co. has a fifty-two week low of $88.54 and a fifty-two week high of $135.97.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $633.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.43 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 9.66%. Analysts forecast that ESAB Co. will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

ESAB Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 4th. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESAB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on ESAB from $125.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of ESAB from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of ESAB from an “underperform” rating to an “inline” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $122.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded ESAB from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $123.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, ESAB presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.75.

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.