29,089 Shares in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Purchased by Holocene Advisors LP

Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 29,089 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,586,000. Holocene Advisors LP owned about 0.05% of Lincoln Electric as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 174.4% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 97.9% in the third 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 boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 41.5% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 308.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $220.00.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $216.08 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $201.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $195.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.19 billion, a PE ratio of 25.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.16. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.51 and a 1-year high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The business had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $988.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.40 EPS. The business’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 8.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 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.