Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $1.59 Million Investment in ESAB Corporation $ESAB

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in ESAB Corporation (NYSE:ESAB) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 16,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,595,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of ESAB by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,006,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $894,457,000 after purchasing an additional 45,841 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in ESAB by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,852,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $653,864,000 after buying an additional 613,327 shares during the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP increased its stake in ESAB by 40.5% in the 3rd quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,945,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,430,000 after buying an additional 560,678 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in ESAB by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,318,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,300,000 after buying an additional 16,466 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in ESAB by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,181,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,008,000 after buying an additional 35,782 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on ESAB. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of ESAB in a research note on Monday, June 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $130.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of ESAB from $148.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective (down from $150.00) on shares of ESAB in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Roth Mkm set a $142.00 target price on ESAB in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $141.00 target price on ESAB in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $138.38.

ESAB Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESAB opened at $93.75 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 2.26 and a current ratio of 2.97. ESAB Corporation has a one year low of $82.18 and a one year high of $137.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.74, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.17. The company’s fifty day moving average is $95.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.22.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by ($0.01). ESAB had a net margin of 7.11% and a return on equity of 15.04%. The company had revenue of $745.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $706.74 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that ESAB Corporation will post 5.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. This is a positive change from ESAB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. ESAB’s payout ratio is 11.83%.

About ESAB

ESAB Corporation is a global leader in welding, cutting and gas control technologies, offering a comprehensive portfolio of equipment, consumables and automation solutions. The company’s products include welding power sources, cutting machines, torches, electrodes, filler metals and gas regulating equipment designed to meet the needs of diverse industries. ESAB serves sectors such as construction, shipbuilding, automotive, energy, infrastructure and manufacturing, providing both standard and customized solutions to enhance productivity and quality in metal fabrication and processing.

Founded in 1904 by Swedish inventor Oscar Kjellberg, ESAB pioneered the development of coated welding electrodes, laying the groundwork for modern welding practices.