Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Stock Position Boosted by Vaughan David Investments LLC IL

Vaughan David Investments LLC IL raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 227,654 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,182 shares during the quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL owned 0.40% of Lincoln Electric worth $42,678,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 54.1% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 308.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the third quarter valued at about $65,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 60.2% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LECO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 0.1 %

LECO opened at $207.47 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $195.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $196.53. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.51 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market cap of $11.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.94 million. Research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

Lincoln Electric 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.