Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Bought by World Investment Advisors

World Investment Advisors increased its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 34.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,505 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 907 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $657,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,408,000. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 162.3% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,435 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 888 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,235,582 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $231,691,000 after purchasing an additional 31,033 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,459 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,772,000 after buying an additional 4,028 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 82,447 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,456,000 after buying an additional 2,383 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $172.02 on Monday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $167.71 and a one year high of $250.17. The company has a 50-day moving average of $197.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $198.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market cap of $9.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on LECO. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric 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.