VELA Investment Management LLC Buys 7,113 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

VELA Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 27.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 33,359 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 7,113 shares during the period. Lincoln Electric accounts for approximately 2.0% of VELA Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. VELA Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Lincoln Electric worth $6,310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 255.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth approximately $68,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 459 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 517 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $206.40.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 0.7%

LECO traded up $1.62 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $219.33. 540,942 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 323,753. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $198.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $194.18. The company has a market cap of $12.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.04, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.20. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $161.11 and a fifty-two week high of $222.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $365.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $974.39 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.44% and a return on equity of 39.44%. Lincoln Electric's revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.23 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Lincoln Electric's payout ratio is 36.99%.

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.