Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Bought by Congress Asset Management Co.

Congress Asset Management Co. increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 22.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,050 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 13,279 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. owned about 0.13% of Lincoln Electric worth $13,629,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mizuho Bank Ltd. acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 255.1% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 54.1% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter worth approximately $68,000. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $76,000. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on LECO shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $206.40.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO traded down $0.60 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $203.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 354,468 shares, compared to its average volume of 325,883. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $186.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.24. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $161.11 and a 1 year high of $222.52. The firm has a market cap of $11.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $365.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $974.39 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. The company's revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.23 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.99%.

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.