Virtu Financial LLC Invests $314,000 in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,445 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 11,084 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,019,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Aviva PLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the third quarter valued at approximately $595,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $828,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 161.0% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 158,902 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,887,000 after buying an additional 98,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,049,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $190,853,000 after buying an additional 174,278 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LECO shares. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $225.29.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $186.48 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $214.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $225.95. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.00 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.80, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.49.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $981.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The business’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.15%.

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.