Financial Counselors Inc. Raises Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Financial Counselors Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,290 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,274 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $6,008,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LECO. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 891,111 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $210,831,000 after buying an additional 494,464 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $49,592,000 after buying an additional 256,872 shares during the period. Absher Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the third quarter worth about $24,604,000. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the third quarter worth about $23,233,000. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

NASDAQ LECO opened at $216.62 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.51 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $199.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $196.43.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. 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 yield of 1.38%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 33.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LECO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. One research 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, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $220.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

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.