Bridges Investment Management Inc. Buys 5,924 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 102.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,684 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,924 shares during the period. Bridges Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $2,210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Greenleaf Trust boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,521 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 22.3% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 10,317 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,916,000 after buying an additional 1,882 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 526.8% during the 1st quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,261 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,941,000 after buying an additional 8,624 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 553 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 131,378 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $24,851,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock traded down $2.06 on Friday, hitting $221.41. The company had a trading volume of 78,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 323,001. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.11 and a twelve month high of $225.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $200.64 and a 200-day moving average of $194.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $365.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $974.39 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.44% and a return on equity of 39.44%. The business's revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.23 EPS. Research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. Lincoln Electric's payout ratio is 36.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $206.40.

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.