Proficio Capital Partners LLC Buys Shares of 29,995 Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 29,995 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,623,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 255.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. 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. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value 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. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of LECO stock opened at $190.50 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $169.51 and a one year high of $261.13. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $197.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $197.01. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. Sell-side analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. 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. 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. Finally, 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Company 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.