Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Buys 442 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 7.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,609 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 442 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,250,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 255.1% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth $68,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth $76,000. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 459 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on LECO shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp cut their price target on Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $206.40.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO stock opened at $209.27 on Friday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.11 and a 12 month high of $222.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.68 billion, a PE ratio of 25.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $193.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $365.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $974.39 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.44% and a net margin of 11.44%. The company’s revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.23 EPS. Analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 36.99%.

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.