Norden Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Norden Group LLC raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 20.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,472 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 591 shares during the quarter. Norden Group LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 81.9% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $210,831,000 after buying an additional 494,464 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 12.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,527,000 after buying an additional 280,466 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 121.7% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 268,229 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $50,284,000 after buying an additional 147,239 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 61,640 shares during the period. Finally, Executive Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the third quarter valued at $8,029,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

NASDAQ LECO opened at $200.31 on Tuesday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $169.51 and a one year high of $261.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $196.24 and a 200 day moving average of $197.02. The company has a market capitalization of $11.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.58, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business 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 is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Lincoln Electric 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.