Aigen Investment Management LP Purchases Shares of 1,375 Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,375 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $260,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,120 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,147,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,626 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 85.2% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,789 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $9,334,000 after purchasing an additional 22,899 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 6,952 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,303,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farringdon Capital Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $651,000. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $231.40.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 0.7%

LECO stock opened at $243.61 on Friday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $219.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $201.68. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $161.11 and a fifty-two week high of $246.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.68. The company has a market cap of $13.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.21.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.34 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is 33.71%.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other news, 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 19,173 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,643,317.14. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $1,770,878.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 29,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,254,903.34. This trade represents a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

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.

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