Farrow Financial Inc. Boosts Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Key Points

• Farrow Financial Inc. increased its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings by 23.5% during Q1, owning a total of 10,990 shares worth approximately $2,079,000.
• Analysts have set varying price targets for Lincoln Electric, with KeyCorp increasing its target to $280.00 and Robert W. Baird lowering it to $212.00, reflecting a consensus price target of $231.40.
• Lincoln Electric has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share to be paid on October 15th, marking an annualized dividend of $3.00 with a yield of 1.2%.

Farrow Financial Inc. increased its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 23.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,990 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,089 shares during the period. Farrow Financial Inc.'s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $2,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LECO. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 32,449 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $6,083,000 after buying an additional 2,450 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 3,658 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $686,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 82,447 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $15,456,000 after acquiring an additional 2,383 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,459 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $7,772,000 after acquiring an additional 4,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,408,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

LECO stock traded down $3.65 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $241.93. 365,288 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 360,394. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $214.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $199.85. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.11 and a 12 month high of $246.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.18, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.21.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.34 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp upped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned 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, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $231.40.

Lincoln Electric Company 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.