MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB Increases Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 83,956 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,888 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB owned about 0.15% of Lincoln Electric worth $15,739,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LECO. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 97.9% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 41.5% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 308.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 60.2% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $194.32 on Monday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.51 and a fifty-two week high of $261.13. The stock has a market cap of $10.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.19, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $200.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $196.06. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The company had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.07 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.75.

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.