Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Acquired by Quarry LP

Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 41.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 88 shares during the quarter. Quarry LP’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $57,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,458,387,000 after purchasing an additional 15,062 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 48.0% in the 2nd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,747,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $518,210,000 after buying an additional 891,111 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,856,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,129,000 after buying an additional 121,914 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 525,647 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $99,155,000 after buying an additional 38,206 shares during the period. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 226,846 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,946,000 after buying an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.33.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 1.0 %

LECO stock opened at $191.50 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $190.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $207.21. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.00 and a 52 week high of $261.13. The company has a market cap of $10.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.14.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.44 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.15%.

Insider Activity

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

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.