1,382 Shares in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO Purchased by Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC

Key Points

• Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC acquired 1,382 shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc., valued at approximately $261,000, during the first quarter.
• Wall Street analysts have a generally positive outlook with four analysts rating the stock as a Buy and an average price target of $239.33.
• Lincoln Electric recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $2.60, exceeding expectations and marking a 6.6% revenue increase year-over-year.

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,382 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth $68,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Curat Global LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the first quarter worth $110,000. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on LECO shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Roth Capital assumed coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Friday, September 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $279.00 price objective on the stock. Four 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $239.33.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 0.8%

Lincoln Electric stock traded down $1.89 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $240.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 33,824 shares, compared to its average volume of 339,404. The company has a market capitalization of $13.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.09, a price-to-earnings-growth 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's 50 day simple moving average is $234.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.68.

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

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.71%.

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.