Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO Shares Bought by Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC

Key Points

• Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC significantly increased its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings by 352.9% during the 2nd quarter, now owning 17,259 shares valued at approximately $3.73 million.
• Insider trading activity saw EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sell 3,000 shares of Lincoln Electric stock, reducing her ownership by 13.53%, while SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares, decreasing his stake by 9.83%.
• Lincoln Electric plans to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share on October 15th, which translates to an annualized dividend of $3.00 and a yield of 1.3%.

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 352.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,259 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,448 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $3,733,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 17.2% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,035 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $385,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 7.2% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,609 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,250,000 after acquiring an additional 442 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the first quarter worth $261,000. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 20.1% during the first quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 21,841 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,131,000 after buying an additional 3,658 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 195.2% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 223,025 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $42,187,000 after buying an additional 147,483 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,643,317.14. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total value of $233,230.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,177 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,140,351.71. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,745,148. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $236.72 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $13.06 billion, a PE ratio of 26.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $238.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $210.00. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $161.11 and a 12-month 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.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.34 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LECO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Roth Capital initiated coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research report on Friday, September 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $279.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $239.33.

About Lincoln Electric

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.

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