Quest Partners LLC Purchases 1,767 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,247 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,767 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,776,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 62.7% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 65,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,442,000 after purchasing an additional 25,082 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 21.1% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 45,409 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,593,000 after buying an additional 7,922 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,458,387,000 after buying an additional 15,062 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the second quarter valued at about $1,125,000. Finally, BDF Gestion acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the second quarter worth about $1,858,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. One analyst has 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, Lincoln Electric currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $220.00.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $207.07 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $195.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.08. The firm has a market cap of $11.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.71, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.14. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $169.51 and a one year high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.85.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.07 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. Lincoln Electric’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 33.89%.

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.