Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Acquired by Royce & Associates LP

Royce & Associates LP grew its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 1.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 227,134 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,906 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $43,614,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LECO. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 174.4% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the second quarter worth about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 97.9% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 41.5% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 308.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on LECO. StockNews.com lowered Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $220.00.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ LECO opened at $207.51 on Friday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.51 and a 1-year high of $261.13. The company has a market cap of $11.71 billion, a PE ratio of 24.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $193.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $197.63.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.89%.

Lincoln Electric Profile

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells welding, cutting, and brazing products worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Americas Welding, International Welding, and The Harris Products Group. It offers brazing and soldering filler metals, arc welding equipment, plasma and oxyfuel cutting systems, wire feeding systems, fume control equipment, welding accessories, and specialty gas regulators, and education solutions, as well as a portfolio of automated solutions for joining, cutting, material handling, module assembly, and end of line testing, as well as involved in brazing and soldering alloys, and in the retail business in the United States.