Millennium Management LLC Purchases 147,483 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 195.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 223,025 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 147,483 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC owned 0.40% of Lincoln Electric worth $42,187,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 279.6% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $68,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 77.1% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 12.2% during the first quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 553 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Curat Global LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the first quarter worth approximately $110,000. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In related news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total transaction of $726,540.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 19,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,643,317.14. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total value of $1,770,878.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 29,927 shares in the company, valued at $7,254,903.34. This trade represents a 19.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Roth Capital began coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research note on Friday, September 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $279.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.33.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 1.8%

LECO stock opened at $238.92 on Wednesday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.11 and a 12 month high of $249.19. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $233.54 and its 200 day moving average is $206.80. The company has a market capitalization of $13.19 billion, a PE ratio of 26.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%.The business had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.34 EPS. Lincoln Electric’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.71%.

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.