Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Short Interest Update

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 964,600 shares, an increase of 20.7% from the February 13th total of 799,400 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 302,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $307,344,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter worth approximately $110,062,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter worth approximately $92,117,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position 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 last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $474,527,000 after purchasing an additional 280,466 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of LECO traded up $3.78 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $194.38. The stock had a trading volume of 393,454 shares, compared to its average volume of 310,919. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Lincoln Electric has a 52 week low of $169.51 and a 52 week high of $261.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $197.73 and a 200 day moving average of $196.97. The company has a market cap of $10.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 EPS 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $995.94 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given 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 dividend yield of 1.54%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

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.