Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Boosts Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,452 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $2,147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LECO. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 21,199 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,974,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,737 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 806 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $151,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,634 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,813,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,644 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $871,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO opened at $197.26 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $11.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $198.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $197.45. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.51 and a fifty-two week high of $258.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp upped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Company 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.