Arjuna Capital Purchases New Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Key Points

• Arjuna Capital acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, purchasing 6,664 shares valued at approximately $1.26 million in the first quarter.
• Significant increases in holdings were noted by other hedge funds, with Balyasny Asset Management raising its stake by over 15,900% during the last quarter.
• Lincoln Electric reported a quarterly EPS of $2.60, exceeding estimates, along with a revenue increase of 6.6% year-over-year.

Arjuna Capital bought a new position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,664 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $1,261,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 123.4% during the first quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 3,206 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $606,000 after buying an additional 1,771 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the first quarter valued at $665,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the first quarter valued at $225,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.1% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 365,987 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $69,230,000 after buying an additional 7,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 13.6% during the first quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 5,774 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,096,000 after buying an additional 692 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In related news, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 29,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,254,903.34. The trade was a 19.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO traded down $2.91 on Monday, reaching $236.56. The company had a trading volume of 173,801 shares, compared to its average volume of 351,321. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.11 and a twelve month high of $246.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $216.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $200.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) 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. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.34 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric's payout ratio is currently 33.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.