Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Purchased by CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 21.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,409 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,922 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned about 0.08% of Lincoln Electric worth $11,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,458,387,000 after acquiring an additional 15,062 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,734,211 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $377,122,000 after purchasing an additional 12,773 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at $336,627,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 687,841 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $149,578,000 after buying an additional 67,867 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 561,636 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $122,138,000 after buying an additional 6,280 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on LECO shares. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 24th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 24th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, April 29th. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $221.71.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO opened at $206.50 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $195.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $222.64. The company has a market cap of $11.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.92, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 2.24. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $164.00 and a one year high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $981.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 30.15%.

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.