Engineers Gate Manager LP Has $1.46 Million Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Engineers Gate Manager LP reduced its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 58.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,507 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 7,786 shares during the quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP's holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 40.5% during the second 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. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $415,155,000. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 23.2% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 64,257 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $16,005,000 after acquiring an additional 12,093 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,306,641 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $313,175,000 after acquiring an additional 6,070 shares during the period. Finally, SummitTX Capital L.P. increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 37.0% in the 1st quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. now owns 18,192 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,531,000 after acquiring an additional 4,916 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 1.0%

LECO traded up $2.60 on Monday, hitting $259.80. The company had a trading volume of 124,872 shares, compared to its average volume of 387,812. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $14.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.93, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.21. The company's fifty day moving average price is $268.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $263.38. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.22 and a 1 year high of $310.00.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.35% and a return on equity of 39.23%. The business's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.60 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is presently 31.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Lincoln Electric Company Profile

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.