Farther Finance Advisors LLC Buys 1,065 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 83.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,336 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,065 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $438,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in LECO. Elios Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Lincoln Electric during the third quarter valued at about $999,000. Vestcor Inc increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 85.5% during the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 8,180 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 3,771 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.5% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 237,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,688,000 after purchasing an additional 7,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Lincoln Electric in the third quarter worth $499,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were 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 owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of LECO stock opened at $190.50 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.51 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $197.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $197.01.

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

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

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.