Capital International Sarl Purchases 3,643 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Capital International Sarl grew its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 70.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,844 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,643 shares during the quarter. Capital International Sarl’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $2,259,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 54.3% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 21,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,604,000 after purchasing an additional 7,718 shares during the last quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $925,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 62.7% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 65,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,442,000 after purchasing an additional 25,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $95,479,000 after purchasing an additional 424,831 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $221.71.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO traded up $3.86 during trading on Friday, reaching $210.36. The stock had a trading volume of 267,921 shares, compared to its average volume of 337,022. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $164.00 and a one year high of $261.13. The company has a market capitalization of $11.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.33, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $195.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $222.64.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The business had revenue of $981.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 30.15%.

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.