Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Raises Stock Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 3.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 237,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,962 shares during the quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned approximately 0.42% of Lincoln Electric worth $45,688,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 48.0% in the 2nd 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 period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 494,464 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 18,413.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 256,872 shares in the last quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $24,604,000. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter worth $23,233,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com cut Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $220.00.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

LECO opened at $213.52 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $197.51 and a 200 day moving average of $196.52. The stock has a market cap of $12.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.48, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.14. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.51 and a 52-week high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million during 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 business’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was 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 directly owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at $1,966,880.88. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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.