AXQ Capital LP Buys 81 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

AXQ Capital LP increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,870 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the quarter. AXQ Capital LP’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 3.0% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,644 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $316,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 20,121 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,864,000 after buying an additional 695 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 221.9% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 721 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the third quarter valued at about $705,000. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the third quarter worth about $651,000. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $192.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.56, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.51 and a fifty-two week high of $258.99. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $198.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $196.99.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.94 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.81%.

Lincoln Electric 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.