Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Bought by Paloma Partners Management Co

Paloma Partners Management Co lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 16.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,471 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LECO. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 174.4% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 97.9% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 41.5% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 308.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on LECO shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $220.00.

Insider Activity

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.7 %

LECO opened at $213.84 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $201.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $195.93.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. The company had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.89%.

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.