Cerity Partners LLC Increases Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 10.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 106,746 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 9,974 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC owned 0.19% of Lincoln Electric worth $22,131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 82.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 155 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 980.8% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the second quarter worth $64,000. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 279.6% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 619.3% during the 2nd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 410 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Roth Capital set a $285.00 target price on shares of Lincoln Electric and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $247.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,595,549.76. This represents a 18.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 stock was sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total value of $233,230.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 9,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,140,351.71. This trade represents a 9.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 2.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $238.31 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $234.57 and a 200 day moving average of $228.16. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $161.11 and a 52-week high of $249.19.

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

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 32.12%.

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.