OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Makes New $2.14 Million Investment in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Key Points

• OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp has made a new investment of $2.14 million in Lincoln Electric Holdings, acquiring 11,300 shares of the company during the first quarter.
• Research firms have recently adjusted their price targets for Lincoln Electric, with KeyCorp raising its price objective to $280.00 and giving the stock an "overweight" rating.
• Lincoln Electric has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share, scheduled for payment on October 15th, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 1.2%.

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 11,300 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $2,138,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LECO. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15,932.5% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 336,682 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $63,118,000 after purchasing an additional 334,582 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 22,146.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 291,874 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $55,211,000 after purchasing an additional 290,562 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 16.2% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,351,223 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $255,597,000 after purchasing an additional 188,104 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the first quarter worth $28,548,000. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 51.2% during the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 405,559 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $76,715,000 after purchasing an additional 137,330 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $231.40.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 19,173 shares in the company, valued at $4,643,317.14. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $7,254,903.34. This represents a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.41% of the company's stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ LECO traded up $1.32 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $242.17. 167,572 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 341,936. The company has a market cap of $13.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $230.90 and a 200 day moving average of $206.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

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

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued 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 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.