Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Takes $705,000 Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 3,674 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of LECO. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,125,000. BDF Gestion acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric in the second quarter valued at about $1,858,000. Bridges Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Lincoln Electric during the second quarter worth about $834,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,042,000. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 19,879 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,817,000 after acquiring an additional 2,642 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LECO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $220.00.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO opened at $213.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $12.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.48, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.14. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $197.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $196.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of Lincoln Electric 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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.