Voya Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Voya Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 19.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 35,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,951 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $6,746,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $499,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the third quarter worth approximately $121,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 129,959 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $24,955,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,352 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $833,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,312 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on LECO shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $187.00 to $179.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $178.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $219.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at $11,777,590.20. This trade represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

LECO stock opened at $184.00 on Wednesday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $161.11 and a 52-week high of $238.47. The business has a fifty day moving average of $188.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $196.35. The stock has a market cap of $10.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.81%.

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.