Meeder Asset Management Inc. Raises Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 1,847.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,324 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,256 shares during the quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $250,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 75.0% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,811 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $721,000 after acquiring an additional 1,633 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position 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 valued at $385,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $1,250,000 after acquiring an additional 442 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the first quarter valued at $211,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 3.5% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 8,148 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,541,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LECO traded down $2.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $241.14. 517,997 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 347,084. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $211.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $198.81. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $161.11 and a one year high of $244.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $13.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.34 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate 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 Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. 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 is presently 33.71%.

Lincoln Electric 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.