United Services Automobile Association Purchases New Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,648 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $694,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 75.0% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,811 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $721,000 after purchasing an additional 1,633 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 17.2% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,035 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 7.2% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,609 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,250,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric in the first quarter valued at about $211,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 3.5% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 8,148 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,541,000 after buying an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total transaction of $1,770,878.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 29,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,254,903.34. This represents a 19.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total value of $726,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 19,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,643,317.14. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on LECO. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Roth Capital began coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research note on Friday, September 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $279.00 price objective on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.33.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $238.92 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $233.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $206.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.22. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.11 and a twelve month high of $249.19.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.34 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.71%.

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.