GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Has $14.86 Million Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 78,550 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 597 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $14,859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 7.2% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,609 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,250,000 after buying an additional 442 shares during the last quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC now owns 183,442 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $34,700,000 after acquiring an additional 24,416 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 330,822 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $62,578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,079 shares during the period. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 196,344 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $37,140,000 after purchasing an additional 2,766 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the first quarter worth approximately $212,000. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.40.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 2.7%

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $206.73 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $191.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $193.27. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $161.11 and a 1-year high of $222.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.22 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $365.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $974.39 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.44% and a return on equity of 39.44%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.23 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.99%.

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.