Jane Street Group LLC Grows Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Key Points

• Jane Street Group LLC has significantly increased its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, boosting it by 153.1% during the first quarter, bringing its total ownership to about 58,993 shares worth approximately $11.16 million.
• Insider sales include EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry selling 3,000 shares and EVP Gabriel Bruno selling 7,305 shares at prices around $242, marking notable decreases in their respective stock holdings.
• Lincoln Electric recently reported $2.60 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share, reflecting a 1.2% dividend yield.

Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 153.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 58,993 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 35,682 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Lincoln Electric worth $11,159,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 3,208 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $607,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.2% during the 1st 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. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 2,541 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 11,541 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,183,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Greenleaf Trust lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 3.0% during the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,521 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

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 sale, the executive vice president owned 19,173 shares in the company, valued at $4,643,317.14. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 29,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,254,903.34. The trade was a 19.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted 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. Wall Street Zen raised Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $231.40.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of LECO traded up $1.16 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $242.01. The company had a trading volume of 149,811 shares, compared to its average volume of 341,884. The company's fifty day moving average price is $230.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $206.02. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $161.11 and a one year high of $249.19. 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 company has a market capitalization of $13.36 billion, a PE ratio of 27.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.22.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.34 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

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