Jupiter Topco LLC Buys New Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 187,861 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,878,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter worth $656,165,000. Diamant Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 24,685.8% during the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,839,568 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $956,360,000 after purchasing an additional 3,824,077 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $415,155,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $52,700,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,306,641 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $313,175,000 after buying an additional 6,070 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $257.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, August 10th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $275.00 target price on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $307.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other news, EVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 845 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.81, for a total value of $232,214.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,560,954.39. This trade represents a 8.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.68% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $289.73 on Friday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.22 and a twelve month high of $310.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $15.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $267.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $265.97.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.12. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.23% and a net margin of 12.35%.The business had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.60 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 11.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 31.57%.

Lincoln Electric Company Profile

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: LECO) is a global manufacturer and distributor of welding products, robotic welding systems, plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment, and surface treatment systems. The company’s portfolio encompasses welding consumables such as electrodes and wires, as well as power sources, torches, and automated welding cells. Lincoln Electric also offers software solutions and training services designed to optimize productivity and quality in fabrication and manufacturing operations.

Founded in 1895 by John C.