Beacon Financial Advisory LLC Has $2.45 Million Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Beacon Financial Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 430.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 11,834 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 9,601 shares during the quarter. Lincoln Electric comprises 0.6% of Beacon Financial Advisory LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $2,454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LECO. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,178 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $408,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 36.1% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Curat Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter valued at $110,000. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 22.6% during the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 72,050 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $13,629,000 after acquiring an additional 13,279 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 25,556 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,834,000 after acquiring an additional 722 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on LECO. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Roth Capital began coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Friday, September 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $279.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total transaction of $233,230.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 9,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,140,351.71. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total transaction of $1,770,878.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 29,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,254,903.34. This trade represents a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,745,148 in the last three months. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO opened at $236.39 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $239.23 and its 200 day moving average is $211.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.68. The company has a market capitalization of $13.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.20. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $161.11 and a fifty-two week high of $249.19.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. The company’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.34 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 33.71%.

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.