Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,543 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $290,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 81.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $210,831,000 after purchasing an additional 494,464 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,527,000 after acquiring an additional 280,466 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 121.7% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 268,229 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,284,000 after acquiring an additional 147,239 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,204,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $231,345,000 after acquiring an additional 61,640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Executive Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the third quarter valued at approximately $8,029,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $195.82 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $196.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $197.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.51 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The company has a market cap of $10.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. Research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

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.