23,661 Shares in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Purchased by Cary Street Partners Financial LLC

Cary Street Partners Financial LLC bought a new position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 23,661 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $4,436,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $307,344,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $110,062,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $92,117,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15,932.5% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 336,682 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $63,118,000 after acquiring an additional 334,582 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,735,527 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $325,359,000 after acquiring an additional 234,515 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $216.17.

Insider Activity

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO traded down $1.34 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $185.87. 287,739 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 331,062. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.25. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $161.11 and a 1 year high of $238.47. The company's 50-day moving average is $185.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $195.54. The company has a market capitalization of $10.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.81, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.22 by ($0.06). Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The business had revenue of $365.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $974.39 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.23 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.99%.

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.