Fifth Third Bancorp Acquires 54 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,737 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 54 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $326,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $210,831,000 after buying an additional 494,464 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,527,000 after acquiring an additional 280,466 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 18,413.8% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 258,267 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $49,592,000 after purchasing an additional 256,872 shares during the last quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $24,604,000. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $23,233,000. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $198.78 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $11.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.72, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $198.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $196.49. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.51 and a 52 week high of $261.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. The company had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. Lincoln Electric’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.50.

Lincoln Electric 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.