Financial Counselors Inc. Purchases 215 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 31,505 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 215 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $5,906,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 255.1% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 54.1% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $76,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO opened at $197.26 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $11.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.20, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $258.62. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $198.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $197.45.

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

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 36.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on 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 price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.60.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at $11,777,590.20. This trade represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.