Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Purchased by Utah Retirement Systems

Utah Retirement Systems grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO – Get Rating) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,052 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Utah Retirement Systems’ holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 13.8% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,049 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 145,535 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,297,000 after acquiring an additional 12,875 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 12.6% during the third quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 4,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $582,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the third quarter valued at $855,000. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.6% during the second quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 7,438 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $918,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the period. 73.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 2,482 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.15, for a total transaction of $372,672.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,507 shares in the company, valued at $3,379,426.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LECO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $174.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $167.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $149.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $149.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $164.25.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $166.53 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of $9.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.69, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.14. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $118.17 and a one year high of $176.52. The company has a 50-day moving average of $164.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $147.91.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $930.93 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $924.20 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 52.02% and a net margin of 12.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.61 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be given a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 31.80%.

Lincoln Electric Company Profile

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Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc engages in the manufacture of arc welding equipment, consumable welding products and other welding and cutting products. Its welding products include arc welding power sources, wire feeding systems, robotic welding packages, fume extraction equipment, consumable electrodes and fluxes.