Swiss National Bank Purchases 400 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 111,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 400 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.20% of Lincoln Electric worth $20,903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the third quarter valued at $385,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 9.4% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,473 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $283,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 3.2% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,646 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $316,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 174.4% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 40,242 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,727,000 after buying an additional 25,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 23.6% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 9,247 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,776,000 after purchasing an additional 1,767 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, 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 corporate insiders.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 0.2 %

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $190.60 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $10.69 billion, a PE ratio of 23.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $169.51 and a one year high of $261.13. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $197.73 and a 200 day moving average of $196.97.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 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 return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on LECO shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Company 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.