Banco Santander S.A. Takes $651,000 Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Banco Santander S.A. acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,392 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $651,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 48.0% in the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,747,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $518,210,000 after purchasing an additional 891,111 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in 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 valued at $210,831,000 after buying an additional 494,464 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 18,413.8% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 258,267 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $49,592,000 after buying an additional 256,872 shares during the last quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $24,604,000. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the third quarter worth $23,233,000. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $213.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.48, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $196.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $197.07. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. The company 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%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.40 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.89%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LECO shares. 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 report on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $220.00.

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.