Edgestream Partners L.P. Raises Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 1,755.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 45,849 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 43,378 shares during the quarter. Lincoln Electric accounts for approximately 0.4% of Edgestream Partners L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Edgestream Partners L.P. owned approximately 0.08% of Lincoln Electric worth $8,649,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LECO. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the second quarter worth $3,042,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 525,647 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $99,155,000 after acquiring an additional 38,206 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 12.5% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,576 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,240,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 78,994 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $14,901,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 58.8% in the second quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,842 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 682 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $218.29.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO stock opened at $184.32 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $193.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $212.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.49 billion, a PE ratio of 19.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.14. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.00 and a 52-week high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.97 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.15%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,966,880.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

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.