Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC Invests $225,000 in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,242 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter worth $110,062,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15,932.5% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 336,682 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,118,000 after purchasing an additional 334,582 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 22,146.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 291,874 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,211,000 after acquiring an additional 290,562 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,351,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $255,597,000 after acquiring an additional 188,104 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 51.2% in the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 405,559 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $76,715,000 after acquiring an additional 137,330 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.40.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total value of $1,770,878.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 29,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,254,903.34. This represents a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 1.6%

LECO stock opened at $242.11 on Wednesday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.11 and a twelve month high of $246.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.36 billion, a PE ratio of 27.20, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $218.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $201.05.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.28. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.34 earnings per share. Lincoln Electric’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.71%.

About Lincoln Electric

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.