Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Purchases 11,838 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 9.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 132,752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,838 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 0.24% of Lincoln Electric worth $27,522,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at $354,063,000. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the second quarter worth about $141,550,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the first quarter worth $28,548,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 195.2% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 223,025 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,187,000 after purchasing an additional 147,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 24.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 504,479 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $104,589,000 after purchasing an additional 98,920 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $245.41 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $234.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $227.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.11 and a 12 month high of $249.19.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.56% and a return on equity of 40.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 32.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total value of $3,014,500.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,595,549.76. The trade was a 18.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total value of $233,230.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,140,351.71. The trade was a 9.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Roth Capital set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research downgraded Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $247.00.

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.