International Assets Investment Management LLC Buys New Stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 12,433 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,704,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 1,422.2% during the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 137 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 81.1% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the third quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the first quarter worth $35,000. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on LECO shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 22,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total transaction of $834,202.98. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,308,819.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of LECO opened at $238.93 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $155.21 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $248.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $217.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 45.09%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.31%.

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.