Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Plans $0.71 Quarterly Dividend

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Sunday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.71 per share by the industrial products company on Monday, July 15th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th.

Lincoln Electric has increased its dividend payment by an average of 9.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 29 years. Lincoln Electric has a dividend payout ratio of 27.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Lincoln Electric to earn $10.30 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.6%.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $238.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.24. Lincoln Electric has a twelve month low of $155.21 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $248.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $217.94. The firm has a market cap of $13.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.44, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. State of Wyoming grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 492 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Brinker Capital Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.2% in the first quarter. Brinker Capital Investments LLC now owns 3,702 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $510,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 3.0% during the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,795 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $344,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 5.4% during the first quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 1,670 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 6,505 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,415,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.