ABN Amro Investment Solutions Acquires New Shares in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

ABN Amro Investment Solutions purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 20,950 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,343,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 15.5% during the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 88.4% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,912 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 77.1% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 11.3% during the first quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,420 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,636 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total transaction of $3,014,500.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,595,549.76. The trade was a 18.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total transaction of $233,230.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 9,177 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,140,351.71. The trade was a 9.83% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen lowered Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $247.00.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 3.8%

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $227.14 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $12.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.52, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $235.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $222.05. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $161.11 and a 1 year high of $249.19.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.83%.

About Lincoln Electric

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.