Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Buys Shares of 120,990 Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 120,990 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,233,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LECO. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 174.4% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 97.9% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 41.5% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 308.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on 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 objective on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $220.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of Lincoln Electric 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO opened at $206.10 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $11.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.59, a PEG ratio of 1.57 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 12-month low of $169.51 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The business’s 50 day moving average is $194.37 and its 200 day moving average is $197.19.

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

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.89%.

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.