Advisors Asset Management Inc. Buys 338 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 24.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,705 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 338 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $323,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 1,908 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,159 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,404,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $750,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,404,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 7,739 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,451,000 after buying an additional 1,707 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $242.84 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $234.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $207.28. The firm has a market cap of $13.40 billion, a PE ratio of 27.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.22. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.11 and a twelve month high of $249.19.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%.Lincoln Electric’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.34 EPS. Analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. KeyCorp upped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Roth Capital assumed coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research note on Friday, September 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $279.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total transaction of $726,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 19,173 shares in the company, valued at $4,643,317.14. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total value of $1,770,878.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 29,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,254,903.34. This represents a 19.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.