Janus Henderson Group PLC Boosts Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 16.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 232,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,993 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $43,494,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 255.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 54.1% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $76,000. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on LECO shares. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays raised their price target 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 raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $216.17.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $195.57 on Wednesday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $161.11 and a 12-month high of $233.17. The stock has a market cap of $10.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.00, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $185.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $195.57. 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 (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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.06). Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. The company had revenue of $365.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $974.39 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.23 earnings per share. Lincoln Electric’s revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.99%.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

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.