Xponance Inc. Has $1.49 Million Stock Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 1.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,861 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LECO. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 255.1% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 11,490 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,154,000 after purchasing an additional 792 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 111,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $20,903,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 54,934 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,298,000 after purchasing an additional 14,692 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.5%

LECO stock opened at $219.52 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $161.11 and a 52-week high of $225.25. The company has a 50-day moving average of $203.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $195.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 36.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on LECO shares. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $211.40.

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.