Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Invests $114,000 in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 596 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,000.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on LECO shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of 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 raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $220.00.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of LECO opened at $217.54 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $200.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $196.01. The stock has a market cap of $12.28 billion, a PE ratio of 25.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 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. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The business had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.07 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase 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 (DPR) is 33.89%.

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.