2,074 Shares in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Purchased by CCM Investment Group LLC

Key Points

• CCM Investment Group LLC recently acquired 2,074 shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, valued at approximately $393,000, amidst notable activity from other institutional investors as well.
• Lincoln Electric announced a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share, reflecting a 1.3% dividend yield, with the payout date set for October 15th.
• In its latest earnings report, Lincoln Electric exceeded expectations with $2.60 earnings per share, beating the consensus estimate by $0.28, and recorded revenue growth of 6.6% year-over-year.

CCM Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,074 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $393,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter worth approximately $68,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 77.1% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 517 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $97,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 553 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Curat Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the first quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of LECO stock traded down $1.84 on Thursday, reaching $243.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 237,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 351,316. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $219.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $201.36. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $161.11 and a 1 year high of $246.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $13.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

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

Lincoln Electric 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.