Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO Shares Purchased by XTX Topco Ltd

XTX Topco Ltd grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 24.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,918 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,889 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $3,093,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,558,783 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $323,167,000 after buying an additional 83,035 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 2nd quarter valued at about $141,550,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 8.4% during the second quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 581,580 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $120,573,000 after acquiring an additional 45,185 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 24.4% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 504,479 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $104,589,000 after purchasing an additional 98,920 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.7% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 368,478 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $76,393,000 after purchasing an additional 2,491 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Roth Capital set a $285.00 price target on Lincoln Electric and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $247.00.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO opened at $237.74 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $13.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $233.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $225.12. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $161.11 and a 52 week high of $249.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%.The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 33.83%.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total transaction of $233,230.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 9,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,140,351.71. This trade represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total transaction of $3,014,500.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,595,549.76. This represents a 18.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.