Sei Investments Co. Raises Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 60.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,976 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 28,199 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $14,054,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,527,000 after purchasing an additional 280,466 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,204,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $231,345,000 after buying an additional 61,640 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,163,119 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $218,050,000 after buying an additional 65,154 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 555,836 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,203,000 after buying an additional 13,134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 505,701 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $94,804,000 after buying an additional 23,327 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on LECO. Barclays lifted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $190.29 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.51 and a 52-week high of $255.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $198.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $197.54.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. As a group, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

Insider Activity

In related 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is 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.