Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Makes New Investment in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 17,109 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $605,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LECO. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 40.5% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,561,962 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $656,165,000 after acquiring an additional 5,354,141 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 64,631 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $15,488,000 after purchasing an additional 4,655 shares during the last quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter worth $1,677,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $415,155,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 23.2% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 64,257 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $16,005,000 after purchasing an additional 12,093 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LECO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday. Weiss Ratings raised Lincoln Electric from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, August 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $340.00 price objective for the company. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $320.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Lincoln Electric from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $257.00 to $283.00 in a report on Monday, August 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $307.22.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 1.0%

LECO traded up $2.60 on Monday, hitting $259.80. 124,872 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 387,812. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $268.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $263.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.22 and a twelve month high of $310.00. The company has a market cap of $14.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.21.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.17 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.23% and a net margin of 12.35%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.60 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 11.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric's payout ratio is presently 31.57%.

About Lincoln Electric

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc NASDAQ: LECO is a Cleveland, Ohio-based manufacturer of welding, cutting and automation products. Founded in 1895 by John C. Lincoln, the company serves industrial, construction, energy, transportation and other end markets that use fabrication and joining technologies.

Its product portfolio includes arc-welding machines, welding consumables such as electrodes and wire, plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment, robotic welding systems, and related automation solutions.