Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Buys 54 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 0.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 356,243 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.63% of Lincoln Electric worth $68,406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 174.4% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 97.9% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 41.5% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 308.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. KeyCorp increased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $220.00.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

LECO opened at $216.62 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $199.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $196.43. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.51 and a 52-week high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.89%.

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.