Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Acquires New Shares in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 836 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 181,094 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,381,000 after acquiring an additional 4,770 shares in the last quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $925,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 2,984.6% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 439,065 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $95,479,000 after purchasing an additional 424,831 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 126,573 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,525,000 after purchasing an additional 27,989 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $13,377,000. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. KeyCorp cut their target price 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 cut their target price on Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Lincoln Electric from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $225.29.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $186.84 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $210.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $225.62. The firm has a market cap of $10.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.17. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.00 and a 52 week high of $261.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $981.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 43.81% and a net margin of 13.23%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

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

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.