International Assets Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 12,433 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,704,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1,422.2% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 137 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 43.1% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 166 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.1% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 151.6% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 239 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 target price for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.50.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total value of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 22,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 1.0 %

LECO opened at $238.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50-day moving average of $248.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $217.53. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $155.21 and a 12 month high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.26. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 45.09% and a net margin of 13.01%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 30.31%.

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.