Blue Trust Inc. Purchases 96 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 28.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 96 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $83,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 54.1% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth approximately $613,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 31,136 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,889,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 9,239 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,738,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 53,564 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,042,000 after purchasing an additional 13,111 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $207.27 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $196.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.70 billion, a PE ratio of 25.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.51 and a 1-year high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $995.94 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LECO has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.60.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.