Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Stock Position Increased by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,601,734 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 18,805 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.10% of Lincoln Electric worth $1,050,157,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted 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 valued at $474,527,000 after purchasing an additional 280,466 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 5.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,204,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $231,345,000 after purchasing an additional 61,640 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,163,119 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $218,050,000 after buying an additional 65,154 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 555,836 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,203,000 after acquiring an additional 13,134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 505,701 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $94,804,000 after acquiring an additional 23,327 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction 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 approximately $11,777,590.20. This trade represents a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $190.29 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.51 and a 1 year high of $255.60. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $198.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $197.54. The company has a market cap of $10.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $995.94 million. As a group, analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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