IFP Advisors Inc Boosts Stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 806 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $151,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $204,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 39.7% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 40,453 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,838,000 after buying an additional 11,490 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 7,184.9% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 30,961 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,964,000 after buying an additional 30,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 7,326 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,407,000 after buying an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at $11,777,590.20. This trade represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $200.31 on Tuesday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.51 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $196.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $197.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.58, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.94 million. Equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on LECO. KeyCorp increased 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays increased 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, Stifel Nicolaus reduced 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.60.

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.