Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO Shares Purchased by Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC

Key Points

• Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC significantly increased its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings by 576.6%, acquiring an additional 67,187 shares, bringing its total ownership to 78,840 shares worth approximately $14.91 million.
• The company reported strong quarterly earnings, with an EPS of $2.60, exceeding analysts' expectations, and achieving a revenue of $1.09 billion, representing a 6.6% increase compared to the same quarter last year.
• Lincoln Electric announced a quarterly dividend of $0.75, yielding 1.2%, with the dividend payout ratio currently standing at 33.71%.

Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC raised its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 576.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 78,840 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 67,187 shares during the quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC owned approximately 0.14% of Lincoln Electric worth $14,913,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 279.6% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth $68,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 77.1% in the first 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 last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.2% in the first 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 last quarter. Finally, Curat Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the first quarter worth $110,000. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LECO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Roth Capital began coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research note on Friday. They set a "buy" rating and a $279.00 price objective on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $239.33.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 0.1%

Lincoln Electric stock traded up $0.34 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $244.32. The stock had a trading volume of 214,968 shares, compared to its average volume of 342,177. 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 stock has a market cap of $13.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.22. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.11 and a 12 month high of $249.19. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $231.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.23.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%.Lincoln Electric's quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.34 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total transaction of $726,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 19,173 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,643,317.14. The trade was a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total value of $1,770,878.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 29,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,254,903.34. This represents a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

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.